Desolation and Retribution
by lawriens
Summary: Bella fought to win Edward back. Will they ever get the chance to be happy, or will Nicole be back? So many obstacles, so little time, could they possibly make it? Chap 15 LEMON,ENJOY
1. An Ideal World Is Far From Reality

"Bella

"Bella?" a velvet-soft voice stirred me from my dreams.

"Mmm" I mumbled slightly incoherently as I stuffed my face back into my pillow.

"You're talking in your sleep again" the voice quivered as if it were trying to suppress a chuckle. It took me a few seconds to register who that beautiful voice belonged to. "Morning" I smiled through sleepy eyes.

"You have no idea how adorable you are when you're all fuddled with sleep" Edward whispered huskily. "Mmm" I murmured again as I snuggled closer to his ice cold, rock hard chest. He really did chuckle then, his chest bumping against my head as he laughed.

"It's not polite to comment on a woman's appearance first thing in the morning" I growled, slightly miffed. "You, my love, are breathtaking any time of day… or night" he whispered into my ear seductively as he pressed gentle kisses to my jaw line. I simply could not help myself from turning slightly, to give him better access to the rest of my face. The kisses continued to blaze across my jaw, down the column of my neck and back up, where he eventually placed small, tender kisses to my lips. I tried to stay really still and enjoy the sensation of his ice cold lips whispering against my skin. My heart beat started to accelerate as the pressure of his lips increased on mine. I twisted my hands into his golden, copper hair, trying to pull him closer to me. He smiled into my lips as he gently pulled away. "Tease" I groaned at him.

"It's one way to make sure you wake up" he grinned at me, his topaz eyes sparkling. He was so damn sexy; I felt my heart rate increase, simply from looking at him. He laughed a low, seductive laugh as he no doubt heard it splutter. "That and the fact that today is our wedding day" he smirked.

"Oh, gosh! Oh gosh! What am I still doing in bed?" I asked "Alice is going to flip! We have so many things to do, hair, nails, make-up…" my ramblings were effectively silenced as Edward caught my face between his cold hands and stared down at me, dazzling me with his beautiful golden eyes, that swam with warmth and happiness. "Bella, you silly girl, just relax, take a deep breath. Today is meant to be the most amazing day of our lives, today you truly become mine, all mine"

"That would be the point, but if I don't get my butt out of bed soon, Alice will kill me for wasting her precious 'Barbie-time' with me, and where will that leave us?" I grinned at him. "Come to think about it, where is Alice? I'm sure she would've been jumping up and down in excitement and irritation by now?" I mused, a bit at loss for the absence of the little black-haired pixie I had come to view as my own sister. "She is under direct orders to allow you to get up at your own pace this morning, regardless of what catering calamity there may be" Edward pointed out matter-of-factly to me.

"Now I definitely know why I love you, you are a real gem, you know that?" I said all the while batting my eye lashes at him furiously. "I tell myself that while looking in the mirror, every morning" he said with a wicked grin. I couldn't help myself and burst into a fit of giggles at his light hearted mood. He slowly raised himself from the bed and looked down at me, adoration shining brightly in his eyes. "It's time for this 'gem' to make his escape, one really can't push Alice too far you know" With that, there was a loud knock on the door. Alice's beautiful wind-chime voice called out "Edward! I have met with your demands, now you need to get out, so us ladies can start getting ready! So much to do, so little time, I'm sure you catch my drift and I'm also sure that you can manage to tear yourself away from your bride-to-be for a few hours 'til the wedding ceremony. Now, skidaddle!" The last few words were said while Alice opened the door and revealed herself to be carrying a huge tray. "I come bearing gifts" She announced while placing the very laden tray on the bedside table. "More like bribes, if you ask me" I mumbled without enthusiasm as I stuffed my face back into my pillow. "Nothing like hot, strong coffee to wake you up" she said sweetly too sweetly. I was really starting to get excited about the wedding, not so much the whole clichéd affair, but more about finally really belonging to Edward and there was definitely some excitement about after the wedding when Edward and I were alone as husband and wife and him fulfilling a promise to me about a very specific human experience. But first I had to survive beautician Alice and her evil sidekick Rosalie. "Earth to Bella! Whatever you are thinking, I would say that you should stop, your blushing a new shade of pink, that I haven't seen on you before" Alice's voice interrupted my reverie. "Ugh Alice! I haven't even been awake for 10 minutes yet, give me a break" I whined in her general direction, still not opening my eyes. "Edward, can't we revisit the idea of having a quickie wedding in Vegas? That would mean I could skip all the torture she has planned for me?" I asked, with my face still pressed into the pillow and pointing in the general direction that Alice's voice had come from. "I would love to say 'whatever you want', but I do have some sort of self preservation, Bella, and I really don't want to test Alice today." He spoke from somewhere very close by and my heart reacted to his beautiful voice instantaneously. "Besides, I do know that you are very keen to try on your wedding dress and imagine what Rene would think, after coming all this way, to have her only child skip out on her and elope. Scandalous!"

"I hate it when you get all logical" I huffed and proceeded to pull myself into a sitting position, resting my back against the head board of Edwards ornate wrought iron bed- soon to be our bed. "There's the face of the woman I know and love. Now, drink your coffee before it gets cold, eat some breakfast that poor Esme has been slaving over all morning and have fun with the girls. After all, it's not every day that a girl gets to marry her teenage, vampire sweetheart, with almost the whole town in attendance." He smirked, adding the last bit in, just for my benefit. He knew how I felt about it.

After all the invites had been sent out, I had pretty much holed up at the Cullens' house. The looks I got from the folk in town, was enough to make my stomach lurch just at the memory. I was eternally glad that I did not have Edward's ability to read the thoughts of others, I'm sure I would have had a nervous breakdown by now. Charlie had taken the news quite well, simply stating that he wasn't surprised and as long as I knew in my heart that this is what I wanted, then he would support me. His love for me was so plainly obvious on his face that night, that I was lost for words. Rene was another matter all together. Once she had gotten over her hysterics, she started getting excited. She and Alice had been in contact every day for the past few weeks and I' sure she knew more about what was going on than I did.

"Edward, you need to go, now!" Alice's voice pierced my musings for the second time this morning. I looked up at Edward, who was looking at me with a slight hint of concern in his eyes. "It's too late to have seconds thoughts now Bella" He tried to sound as if he was joking, but there was a sliver of seriousness in his voice. "Nice try, but you aren't getting rid of me that easily" I answered him smoothly. "I was just thinking back over the last few weeks, I can't believe how quickly they have gone by" I added for his benefit. He sat on the edge of the bed as he took my hand into his cold one. "You have no idea how these last weeks have dragged by for me, I started thinking that this day would never come, and now that it has, I better leave before Alice rips me to shreds for wasting her grooming time" He smiled down at me, quickly pressed a kiss to the crown of my head and stood up to leave. "I will see you in a few hours, it's going to be torture to be away from you, but it'll be so worth it" He touched a icy finger to my pouting lips and added quietly "I love you Bella, I can't wait for you to be my wife" There was a loud hiss of irritation from Alice, "Get out Edward, before I call Jasper and Emmett to help you out" she stated hands on her hips. "Okay Alice, relax, I'm going" He sighed, but quickly ducked his head and crushed my lips to his. My body reacted immediately. I wrapped my arms around his neck and raised myself to my knees and kissed him back with all the passion and love I had inside me. He slowly withdrew from me, winked and sped out the door before Alice could have any more to say to him.

I sat on the bed, dazed by the sheer magnitude of emotions that Edward had managed to ignite within me, with one kiss. Tonight was really going to be wonderful if Edward's kisses were anything to go by.

"Ok, time to get out of bed, Bella. I'm serious now. There is a lot to do today and you lying in bed is seriously starting to get to me." She tried the hard approach and if I ignored her, she would put on her sad puppy face and that I always fell for, so I decided to save myself the trouble and started to get out of bed. Alice handed me an assortment of shampoos, scrubs and oils to use in the shower. Trying to balance them all in one arm, I snaked my hand out to grab the now lukewarm coffee and drank it in huge gulps. Alice just stood and stared at me, her golden eyes, now full of humour. "Might as well start the day off with a high dose of caffeine, if I'm going to survive all the primping and preening I have no doubt you have planned for me" I muttered as I made my way to Edward's bathroom.

Once out the shower, which took a considerably long time, with me having to follow all the instructions Alice hollered at me from the other side of the bathroom door, I wrapped myself in a massive fluffy bath sheet, wrapped another one around my hair and made my way back out to Alice. "One down, 37 to go" Alice said mostly to herself I assumed, grinning at the thought of the mental checklist she no doubt had in her head.

The morning passed in a blur of makeup and hairspray. All I had to do was sit there and pick at the sumptuous breakfast Esme had made for me, while Alice and Rosalie buzzed around me.

"Time for the dress" Alice squealed in delight. I couldn't believe how quickly time had just flown by. Alice grabbed me by the arm and proceeded to march me to the middle of her room. She grabbed the gown that I had been wearing over my very lacy, very revealing corset and garter set. I blushed about thirteen shades of pink, red, scarlet and vermillion from standing in front of these two exquisitely beautiful women, in my skimpy under garments. "Alice, we should have gotten her the black lingerie, it wouldn't pick up the red as much as the white does" Rosalie commented, looking at me with mock seriousness. I would have gotten upset, had it not been for the kind look in her eyes. Rosalie had extended a tentative hand of friendship to me over the last few weeks, which I was ecstatic about. We were by no means anywhere close to having the relationship Alice and I had, but hopefully over time, we would develop one that had its own uniqueness.

Alice arrived back after disappearing into her enormous walk-in closet, with my wedding dress in its garment bag. She hung it from a hook at the back of her bathroom door and unzipped it slowly. She carefully slipped the cover off the dress and then the dress off the hanger. She carried the dress almost reverently to me. Even after all the fittings and adjustments, it still managed to take my breath away with its sheer beauty. I felt my fingers and toes curl in anticipation of putting it on. Rosalie helped Alice undo the gazillion pearly buttons down the back, had it been me attempting this task, I would still be here this time tomorrow, but with their speed and dexterity as vampires, they were done in mere seconds. I held my arms up as they lifted the dress over me and slid it down my body. The feel of the silk and lace against my skin, was delicious. They redid the buttons in even less time than it had taken them to undo them. Rosalie tugged at the dress in a few places to get it to sit just right around my bust and hips. "Now for the shoes" Alice said, and in a flash, she was back with an ornate shoe box in her hands. He lifted the lid and peeled back layers of tissue paper. She extracted the ivory pumps from the box. The silver embroidery shimmered in the light from the overhead fixtures. She deftly slid them onto my feet.

I heard a door close quietly and looked up to see Rosalie with a large jeweller's case in her hands. I had been so preoccupied with my shoes that I had not even noticed her leave the room. "Edward wanted us to make sure that you wear these with your dress" she stated simply as if answering the question that I'm sure she saw in my eyes. "They belonged to his mother." There was no way that I could refuse. I would do anything to make him happy. Rosalie approached me slowly and once she was standing directly in front of me, she opened the case. I gasped at the sheer brilliance of the jewels that sparkled with a luminosity that took my breath away. Inside the large case, lay a tiara that was made up of hundreds of tiny diamonds that lay in tiny rosettes. There was a white gold necklace with a single tear drop diamond on the end and lastly there was a bangle. The bangle was also white gold with tiny diamonds embedded in the shiny surface. The arrangement of the diamonds matched that of the tiara. I stood dumbfounded, while Alice put the tiara on and arranged the veil behind it, carefully pinning it into my lustrous curls with diamante bobby pins. Rosalie gentled fastened the necklace around my neck and slid the bangle onto my arm. They both stepped back to admire their handy work. "Wow" they said in unison. "Bella, you look so beautiful…wow!" Alice stammered, which was very unusual for her. Rosalie but her hand on my shoulder and gently pivoted me to look into the full length mirror Alice had hanging on one wall. I stared in amazement at my reflection. If I didn't know it was me, I would have thought this to be a complete stranger. The dress fit me like a glove, the silk and lace gathered in all the right places, set off my curves just right. The bodice with its beautiful crystal beadwork showed of a modest amount of cleavage (thanks to the very tight corset). My hair hung in heavy curls down my back and my makeup was light and natural. But I was glowing. I was really glowing, not like the red emergency beacon glowing, that I'm used to, but more like a soft golden, heavenly serene glowing. Amazing.

"Thank you" was all I managed to say all the while still staring at the beautiful girl in the mirror. "Bella, Rene and Esme want to come up and see you. We have to go and get ready, there are only 45 minutes left, before we have to leave for the chapel" Alice whispered gently into my ear. I simply nodded. They left in a blur to get dressed into their brides maids dresses in Emmett and Rosalie's room.

There was a soft knock on the door. Esme entered the room first. From across the room, her smile brought tears to my eyes. This woman, this kind, gentle woman, was going to be my mother for all eternity and I was so honoured. She opened her arms and drew me into her embrace. We stood like that for a few minutes, before she whispered into my hair. "We all love you Bella, you have brought so much laughter, colour and light into our lives. What you have done for Edward, I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you enough. I am so glad that you are becoming a part of this family. I want you to know that no matter what happens, we will all always love you and that your place will always be with us." With that, she gently kissed my cheek and stared into my eyes that were brimming with tears. She smiled a soft smile at me, and slowly turned to walk out the room. Once again, all I could say was thank you.

After Esme had departed, my mom slipped quietly into the room and stopped in her tracks. "Who are you and what have you done with my daughter" She called out to me. I burst out laughing, which was exactly what I needed to release all the emotions that had been building inside me. She came over to me and draped her arm across my shoulder while looking into the mirror at me. "You are beautiful Bella. Alice and Rosalie have done a marvellous job" she commented, with a huge grin on her face.

"Thanks mom, I'm sure it's a surprise to see me in anything other than jeans and a t-shirt" I said sarcastically

"It sure is, you clean up really nicely. You should let Alice dolly you up more often." She said absently. " I would rather chew my own arm off than allow Alice to torture me on a regular basis" I chuckled at the thought of Alice watching me chew at my arm, to keep her makeup brushes away from me.

"Bella, on a more serious note, I know that I initially gave you a hard time about getting married so young, but I have decided that if it makes you happy, then I'm happy. Edwards really loves you. You can see it in the way he looks at you. His family are wonderful and have accepted you fully as well. You will have a very secure future with them around to look after you." This was the most my mom had ever had to say about the family I was about to become apart of. "I want you to know that I love you and please Bella, for goodness sake, wait a few years before you have babies". That was so like her, to say something so deep and emotional and then finish it off with a joke. "Ugh! Mom! That's gross, I don't think I ever want to have kids! Maybe one day when you can grow them in a tank and all you have to do is feed them every day like fish, maybe then." I grinned at her and rolled my eyes. "Well, your father is waiting for you down stairs, and if we don't hurry, we'll be late and we don't want Edward thinking you aren't going to show up" She giggled and led me to the door.

As we descended down the stair case, I saw Charlie look up at me and his eyes filled with tears, which in turn caused mine to start swimming. This just wouldn't do. No wonder Alice insisted on waterproof eyeliner and mascara. As I reached the bottom step, Charlie hurried forward and took my right hand. "You are breathtaking Bells" was all he said and it made my heart lurch to think that I would soon be leaving him forever. "You ready?" he asked quietly. "As ready as I'll ever be" was the only response I could think of.

We made our way out the house. Charlie was thrilled that Edward had asked him to take me to the chapel in the Vanquish. I think Charlie was more excited about the drive to the chapel than anything else that was going to happen today.

The drive was quiet. Charlie and I had always been great with comfortable silences. Police chief and all, didn't stop Charlie from arriving at the chapel sooner than we should have, he just couldn't help stretching Edward's beautiful car's legs as he put it. Once we arrived, Charlie got out and came around to my side of the car to open it for me. He helped me out and we made our way to the entrance of the chapel.

Something was not right. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Charlie didn't seem too perturbed by anything. As we neared the chapel, I couldn't see Alice and Rosalie waiting for me as they should have been. I wrenched my arm out of Charlie's grasp, gathered up my dress and sped towards the chapel. I threw the huge, ornate doors open. It was empty. It was dark and empty and Edward was not there. I felt my heart being crushed in my chest. I turned to look for Charlie, but he was also gone. "Edward!" I screamed in panic as I ran into the chapel. There was no reply. Suddenly, I was thrown into darkness. The doors had closed. "Edward!" I screamed again, rooted into place by fear and panic. I could not see or hear anything. What was happening? Where was everyone? I started to run in random directions to find an exit, but couldn't feel a door or window. Why would Edward leave me like this and Alice, why? I slowly sank to the dusty floor, exhausted by my efforts to try and find a way out. The only thought that went through my mind as I lay down, was 'why?'

I suddenly sat bolt upright. I was totally disorientated. What was I doing in my old bed, in my old room at Charlie's house? My breath was being ripped out of my chest in painful bursts. It all fell into place. He had left me, again, he had left me a week before our wedding. But this time he hadn't left for my sake, he had left me for her. Rage and anger boiled together, with a fury that punched the air out of my lungs and once that had dissipated, I was relieved to find myself totally numb, totally devoid of any emotion.


	2. Picking Up the Pieces

Chapter 2

Picking up the pieces.

I was badly shaken by the dream that I had had the night before. The dream had seemed so real, like in some strange parallel universe, Edward had never left and we were happily married now. So real, that I felt an incredibly keen sense of loss that had not been there before. Great, one more unbearable emotion to add to the already huge pile I had to deal with.

It had all started a week before our wedding date. One morning I woke up to find that Edward was not in my room with me. I didn't allow it to bug me he probably went out hunting with Jasper and Emmett. Yet, there was a nagging little voice in the back of my mind that kept reminding me that he normally left a note to say where he had gone. I had sat up in bed and searched the bed, in case he had left one and it slipped under the pillows. Nothing. I told myself to stop being silly and that he would be back soon. Edward and I had spent almost every hour of our days together and one or two hours without him weren't going to kill me, I remember telling myself.

When the afternoon had slowly rolled by and I had still not heard from Edward, I decided to try and call him. I first had to find the cell phone that he had given to me and hit the speed dial for his number. It did not even ring, but went straight to voice mail. He didn't have a recorded message, just the beep that let me know when to start talking. "Hi it's me, just wondering where you are and wanted to let you know that I love you and miss you. See you soon." I hung up, a feeling of dread starting to pool at the pit of my stomach. I made a rash decision to go over to his house. I grabbed my coat and bag and stormed down the stairs, almost making it without tripping, but caught my toe on the rug at the foot of staircase and went flying, landing in a very unladylike position on the floor. I jumped up quickly and smoothed myself down, turning as red as a beetroot, even though there was no one there to witness my embarrassment.

I drove slowly to the Cullens'. Even after all this time, I still had to pay very careful attention in order to not miss the turn off into their driveway. Once I had caught sight of the sneaky entrance, I turned slowly. A few yards down the drive, my truck started hacking and coughing in a way that did not sound healthy. It gave one final almighty wheeze and then there was silence. "Great, just great!" I moaned, leaning my head down on the steering wheel. Well, there wasn't much else to do, but walk the last mile or so to the house, seeing as Edward was not answering his phone and had Alice had a vision about this episode, she would have been out here in a flash, towing Rosalie behind her to take a look at my geriatric truck. I grabbed my coat of the seat and my bag from the floor and slammed the door, irritated at my truck for its impeccable timing. I started walking, humming softly to myself, when all of a sudden I heard voices ringing out through the forest. They were definitely the voices belonging to some of the Cullens. I headed out in the direction of the voices. They were loud, but muffled and I could not make out any individual words. I walked slowly while trying to concentrate on the words. I had gone quite far into the forest before cresting a rise, where all the words slammed into me. The Cullens were standing in a loose semi-circle around Edward, hostile looks marring their beautiful faces. They were obviously totally 

absorbed in the moment, as none of them had noticed my presence, the wind was blowing my scent away from them.

"Edward, you can't be serious? You are marrying Bella in a week, what the hell brought this on?" Alice's normally melodious voice, screeched like nails against a blackboard. My eyes zeroed in on the love of my life, he was standing with his hands in his pockets, a look of disinterest on his face. "Unfortunately, there are just some things that cannot be avoided. I think Bella and I rushed into things. We are so inexperienced, that we thought the first person to cause us to have butterflies in our stomachs, was the one. I see now that it was a very childish assumption, now that I have found Nicole, now I know, what I felt for Bella, cannot be compared to the way I feel about her." he ground out between his teeth. His words hit me at 100 miles an hour. What… don't… how… my internal monologue seemed to revert to becoming monosyllabic to try and deal with the blow that Edward had just delivered.

"Edward Cullen, I will crush you and grind you into a very fine powder, if you think that I'm going to let you hurt Bella again. She loves you, why are you doing this?" Alice pleaded with him, her facial expression rapidly changing from confused to completely furious.

"Alice, I don't think the wedding can go on, even if Edward has somehow managed to cause damage to his brain. It wouldn't be fair on either of them" Jasper said, pulling his tiny wife into his embrace, all the while staring at Edward. "His feelings for this…Nicole are pretty intense, they're pouring off him in waves" Jasper added with a grimace. Esme gasped and grabbed Carlisle's hand for support. Emmet started snarling and had to be restrained by Rosalie, in order to stop him from attacking Edward.

Who…how…when, still monosyllabic, my mind battled to comprehend the enormity of the situation that was unfolding before me. Edward had fallen in love with someone else. We would not get married, I would not be his forever, I would not become a part of his family. After he left me the first time, I had barely survived. I knew with everything in me, that I would not survive it again.

A heart rendering sob, tore through the tense, silent atmosphere that had settled over the little clearing in the forest. Seven pairs of amber eyes swivelled to focus on me. Alice was at my side in a split second, cradling my face against her icy shoulder. Esme approached slowly and placed her hand gently against my cheek. I felt waves of calm and peace wash over me, bringing me back from the edge of hysteria.

"Edward…" I called out to him, tears pouring down my cheeks, I held my hand out for him, hoping that my ears were lying to me and I had not actually heard what I had.

He stared at me with golden eyes. There was no warmth, no remorse, nothing. "I'm sorry Bella. I didn't want you to find out this way. I can't be with you, now that I have discovered what true love really is. I can't be a part of a lie, just to keep my family happy. I don't love you, it was just an infatuation and be grateful that I came to my senses before I took your humanity away" he said without taking my feelings into consideration. My fragile heart, exploded into a million pieces that couldn't possibly be mended again. Edward stared at me without any feeling, he looked like a complete stranger. He turned on his heel and disappeared into the foliage.

"I'll kill him, if I find him" Emmett growled, his chest heaving with the effort it took to keep calm.

"I think we should go and find him" Carlisle said, looking tired. "Jasper, I'll need your skill and Emmett, I'll need your strength, if Jasper can't calm him down enough to listen to reason, then we'll just have to force him to listen" He added, with a half hearted smile twisting his lips, that ended up looking more like a grimace that anything else. All three of them turned to look at me one last time before following the path Edward had fled down.

"Bella, honey, it's going to be okay, we'll sort this out" Esme whispered.

"I just want to go home Esme, please, just take me home"

That little life-changing encounter in the forest had been over a month ago and I had never heard from Edward again. Alice said that he simply disappeared and they couldn't trace him, not even with her visions. Alice had a sneaking suspicion that this Nicole, had the ability to block some abilities.

All I knew was that at this point, I had two choices, I could end all this suffering and kill myself, or I could get even. A visit to Italy would level the playing field a bit.


	3. Flight

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"You can't be serious, Bella!" Charlie yelled at me across the kitchen table. I shrank back into my chair. "What difference will running away from Forks make?" he said this more gently after seeing my reaction to his raised voice. "Why should you have to hide in shame after what that bastard did to you?" the anger crept back into his tone as he mentioned Edward. "I guess this whole situation made me realise how little of life I have actually experienced. I want to see the world and try new things, immerse myself in new cultures. And honestly, I think it may be a good idea to get out of Forks for a while, even if the Cullens' are no longer here, if I get another look from anyone that makes me feel like I'm drowning in their pity, I will probably pull my hair out and start screaming like a banshee." I had to make him see that I would never be happy in Forks, not with all the memories that assaulted me wherever I went, wherever I looked. I just couldn't do it anymore.

Alice and the rest of her family had left two weeks ago to try and find Edward. Alice had called twice since they left, but I knew that she was trying to spare me the heartache of having to hear what was going on, so our conversations were very short and ultimately pointless. They had their hands so full trying to track Edward, that Alice had not even had a vision when I had taken too many sleeping pills the other night to try and drug myself into a dreamless slumber.

With the thought that there would be no one around to stop me if I went to Italy, I avoided planning anything concrete, that could result in Alice having a definite vision and considered slowly making my way to the Volturri, thus not making it too obvious. Who knew, I'd probably chicken out before I got there. But over the course of the last month, I had accumulated a staggering amount of anger towards Edward and the "love" of his life. I gagged on the word even as I thought it in my mind. I wanted to prove to Edward that he had thrown the most precious gift away when he told me that he didn't love me. Maybe when I was a beautiful, indestructible vampire and not a silly, blushing human anymore, he'd think twice about how he felt about me, but it would be too late. I for once would have the opportunity to let him feel what it feels like to have the very meaning of your life, all the love ever given, thrown back in his face. It would be interesting to see if he could swallow some of his own medicine. And having the chance to slap the face of the bitch that had stolen him from me without getting myself killed, was definitely a contributing factor.

"I'm going, dad. I have to. Please understand, I just don't think that I could take another week here. It feels like I'm slowly suffocating. Please, please, please understand. I need to do this for me, I need to go" my eyes filled with tears as I flung myself across the kitchen and into my father's lap. He pulled me tightly to his chest and kissed my gently on the forehead. This was closer than we had ever been, both physically and emotionally. It felt good, but it also broke my heart, because it meant that if my loosen woven idea worked out, I would probably never see him again. That is why I needed him to understand my intense desire to leave, so that at least he could never blame himself for not trying to stop me.

"Well, if you must, Bella. There's nothing left to say really. Promise me that you'll keep in touch and let me know how you are every now and then." He kissed me lightly on the forehead again, before adding "Just let me know when you plan to leave so that I can at least give you a ride to the airport.

"Thank you dad" was all I managed to get past the lump in my throat. "I love you" I said awkwardly as I unfolded myself from Charlie's lap. "Me too kiddo" he said without really looking at me. We were both not the greatest when it came to revealing too many emotions and we had already used our quota for the night.

I raced upstairs and threw some clothes and toiletries into a bag, now that the stitches in my "loosely" woven plan were pulling tighter, there was a greater chance that Alice would see it. The sooner I got to the airport, the better.

As I turned to leave my room, I turned and gave it one final glance. This was it, all the memories, both good and bad, were about to topple the very fragile balance I had somehow achieved between heartache and anger, that kept me nice and numb. If I swayed too far to either side, I knew that I would not recover. "Don't give yourself time to think about it Bella, just keep moving" I chanted to myself.

I turned off the light and called to Charlie who was in the living room. "How about that lift to the airport, dad?"


	4. Following Through

**AN) Sorry guys, I hate it when people put a note at the top of the page and here I find myself doing it too. Please take a moment to review the first three chapters as I see all the hits and have no idea what you think. It feels like I'm stumbling around in the dark here, so feedback would be greatly appreciated.**

**I see everyone does this, so here goes… I do not own Twilight, but I seriously wish I did, so I could take some major credit for writing books that have resonated with so many people!**

Chapter 4

Following Through

The flight to Italy seemed to pass in a blur of terminals, customs and so many couples holding hands, staring into each others' eyes and being all gooey. It was enough to make me actually regret leaving Forks. Pity was easier to deal with than seeing others enjoy something that was ripped away from me so cruelly.

The closer I got to Volterra though, the stronger my resolve became. Somewhere deep within the chasm that had formed since Edward had rejected me, if I looked past the anger that I used as a buffer to cover all the hurt, I knew that I could not sit by and not at least try everything to win him back.

That day in the forest, I had not seen Edward as the beautiful, gentle, kind man I had fallen in love with, but a stranger. His countenance was different, his voice was different, but what had impacted me the most, was the fact that his eyes had been dead, devoid of any sort of emotion. After having been with Edward for the time that I had, I could read his moods, his thoughts, by simply gazing into his eyes. Whether they were a liquid butterscotch, or as black as coal, I had been able to see his emotions flicker across his eyes, like lightning over a prairie. But that day, there had been nothing, as if the link that had connected us at such a basic cellular level, had been severed and as much a stranger as he was to me that day, I'm almost certain he felt the same way when he had looked at me for those brief moments.

The rental car that I was now driving to the ancient city on the hill, blessedly had GPS, so I did not have to try and navigate there with a map, because along with inanimate objects that seemed to enjoy playing tag with my feet, reading a map was not a skill I had mastered. Simply following an automated prompt was much easier.

I tried very hard to avoid thinking about what I was actually doing because if I pondered on the momentous move I was making, I would more than likely put my tail between my legs and head back to the US. What did I plan on doing once I was in the Volturri compound? Present myself before Aro and his "brothers" and ask that they turn me into a vampire? Often, the simplest method is the easiest way to get something done. I would just have to wait and see if I could get in to their building and into their presence to state my case, then I would have achieved a measure of success. If they decided to instead have me for lunch, well, either way, I was not prepared to spend the rest of my life, with my heart in pieces and the feeling that a huge part of me was missing. There were only two alternatives for me. Become a vampire to fight for the man I love, or to die trying, simple. The decision was made. It was agonizing to get there, but once it was decided, I always stuck to it. I was sure that wherever Alice was at that precise moment, she was screaming about my stupidity.

I had reached to outer wall that surrounded the city of Volterra. I parked my car in a demarcated parking bay, locked it and made my way under the huge portcullis, keeping my eyes on the cobbled paving to avoid seeing anything that would remind me of my last trip to Italy that had had such a different outcome.

I spent hours walking the streets of Volterra. I could not remember where the building was located and was looking for anything that seemed familiar. My legs were tired and I was thirsty. The sun was starting to set. I sat on a bench and allowed myself a few moments to rest my head against the wall that sat directly behind the bench. As I slowly opened my eyes, I was met with a sight that definitely looked familiar. It was a huge circular turret that jutted obscurely from what seemed to be a modern building. I was drawn towards it, as a moth is to a flame.

I entered the plush lobby through a revolving door. I stood for a few moments, trying to gather my bearings and headed down a long passage way. Once I reached a heavy wooden door, I pushed it open, to find myself standing in the area that Edward, Alice and I had sat and waited for the sun to set, so we could make out escape from the city. I made my way to the reception desk. The pretty girl sitting behind the desk was not the one that had been there that night a year ago. I briefly wondered what happened to her.

She looked up at me with a small, professional smile. "May I help you?" she asked with only hint of an Italian accent. "I would like to see Aro, Marcus and Caius please" I whispered as I couldn't seem to get my jaws to unlock. This had all seemed so easy, but once I truly realised there was no turning back, all the muscles in my body seemed to freeze. The secretary hesitated slightly, due to my being a human, I'm sure, and proceeded to lift a phone, press a number and speak briefly to someone in Italian,

"Someone will be here in a minute to escort you to see the masters" she said to me, confusion colouring her voice, but it was swiftly replaced by her professional mask. I stood awkwardly to the side of her desk to await this escort.

A door across the reception area opened and a huge figure stepped through. It was Demitri, I would recognize him anywhere. He winked at me as he bowed rather exaggeratingly. "Bella, what a surprise" he then added "and where are the rest of your 'family'" he drawled the last word, which made it sound like an insult. "I am alone" was all I said, speaking to his feet, too terrified to look up into his ruby-red eyes. "Well, this should be very interesting" he chuckled with anticipation. His excitement grated against the very core of my being and I couldn't help myself from snapping, "I'm so glad that my misery will somehow enrich your day, Demitri!" All my waspish comment got rewarded with was a loud guffaw from the huge vampire walking beside me.

It was a very short walk to the deeply carved door I knew opened into that hideous chamber where the Volturri fed. As Demitri opened the door for me, I took a deep breath, balled my hands into tight fists at my sides and stepped over the threshold. There would be no turning around now, regardless of whether it was what I wanted or not.

"Bella, well my dear, this truly is a delightful surprise" Aro called out cheerfully from across the chamber as he glided to where I stood. "To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit" he asked, his voice riddled with curiosity.


	5. The Plot Thickens

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Problem Solved

"I want to become a vampire" I blurted out, blushing an incredibly dark shade of red. I could feel my face burning.

"I'm sorry my dear, I'm…confused" Aro replied, confusion clear in his eyes. "I was under the impression that young Edward was to have the honour of your transformation. It was foretold in the vision Alice had when last you were here"

"Well, things have changed" was all I managed to force through my gritted teeth.

Somewhere in my mind, I hadn't thought that I would actually have to explain my situation to them. Aro cast a glance back at Marcus and Cauis, who were still standing on the opposite side of the room. Marcus, for once, did not have a bored look on his face, but it was covered by something more like deep concern. Not concern for me, his cold eyes let me know that much, but concern about something none the less.

"Bella, we need to know what has transpired. I do not think that the Cullens would be happy about us changing you" Aro said gently, his milky red eyes staring into mine.

"Edward found someone else, a vampire. He left a week before our wedding. After the wedding, he was supposed to change me." I felt my eyes burn with unshed tears but continued. "The Cullen's left to try and find him, but they couldn't track him. It was as if he had simply disappeared. Alice has no visions of him. She seems to think that this… Nicole, has the power to block other abilities" It hurt me to have to talk about this, I always tried to avoid thinking about him being with her, loving her, touching her… things that were supposed to be mine. The tears started their descent down my cheek, but I wiped them away swiftly. I did not want them to witness this weakness in me.

Aro looked back at Marcus, who now moved forward slowly, yet with incredible grace. It was if he were floating. Once he was at Aro's side he raised his right hand, palm facing up. Aro placed his left hand into Marcus'. They stood like that for a split second, before Marcus withdrew his hand and drifted back to stand next to Cauis.

"Bella, we need to discuss some things with you, before your request is even considered." He stated this while staring intently into my eyes. All I managed to do was nod my head, I couldn't seem to find my voice or tear my eyes away from his.

"I suggest we move this little gathering to a more comfortable environment, this could be a long discussion" He reached out his hand, as if offering to escort me to where ever it was that we were going. I shrank back involuntarily; my body repulsed at the idea of letting his white, onion epidermis looking skin make contact with it. "You have nothing to fear, Bella. For now, you are safe" Aro said. I was under no pretences that there was a very thinly veiled warning in his words. I gingerly held out my hand, which was enclosed in one of Aro's cold ones and led out of the chamber.

On our way down the passage way, Aro stopped at the reception desk. "Maria, would you please ensure that refreshments for young Bella, are sent up to the library" his tone was commanding, not the gentle tone that he used when talking to me. "I will make sure that it is taken care of immediately, sir" she responded with a slight bow. We had already started moving forward when a thought struck me. "Why did you speak to her in English?" I asked.

"So that you are aware that we mean you no harm Bella, for the moment" he simply answered, again, the warning was there. This time, it was blatantly obvious. I gulped as all my senses started screaming at me to try and get away from this horrid place. What had I done? I wanted to kick myself for my stupidity. Had I truly thought that this would work? That I could walk into the stronghold, of possibly the oldest vampires in the world and request that the transform me into one of them and that they would not hesitate to comply with my demand? That is exactly how I had thought of it. And now, here I was, being led deeper into their lair for a chat. I couldn't help myself; a bubble of hysterical laughter rose in my throat and escaped through my lips before I could stop it. Aro turned his head to give me a quizzical glance. "Sorry" was all I said, it was all I could think to say. Well, I was here now and there was no way that I could escape, so I would have to see it through to the end, regardless of how this turned out.

Aro turned the knobs of a set of double doors which opened inwards, to reveal a massive library. There were shelves from floor to ceiling that covered three of the walls in this very large room. The fourth wall was literally a window. Beautiful copper velvet drapes were hung along the window. Antique furniture was scattered around the opulent room. Marcus and Caius, where already there, waiting. Aro led me to a cluster of settees that form a semi-circle around a fireplace. The fire was crackling and popping and despite my feeling of impending doom, it managed to slightly lift my spirits. "Please, make yourself comfortable Bella" he said gesturing towards a settee that was covered in crimson velvet and had roses embroidered on it. "Maria should be along shortly with your refreshments" he added absentmindedly. As if on cue, there was a soft knock, followed by the door opening quietly. Maria carried a tray over to where I sat and placed it neatly on a chest that sat on the floor next to the settee. Aro nodded at her and she hastily departed.

Aro sat opposite me in a wing back chair. Marcus and Cauis remained standing near the mantle of the fireplace. I took the glass of juice off the tray and took a small sip. I realised how thirsty I was and proceeded to swallow all the refreshing sap down my parched throat. Aro looked at me with what I could only surmise as being humour, before leaning forward and looking intently at me. The humorous look, now replaced with one of complete seriousness.

"Bella, your coming here today, is just another ripple in a pond, that has had many pebbles tossed in it over the last few months." His words confused me. How could what I am going through, be in any way connected to them. He must have seen my confusion and smiled sadly before continuing.

"I'm sure, from your close relationship with the Cullen's, you are aware of the role that we, the Volturri, have in this world" his statement sounded more like a question, so I shrugged my shoulders and said "They said that you were the ruling class of your kind, like royalty. You keep order and often have to sort out the mess that other, not so secretive vampires make". That summed up all that I knew pretty well. I hoped it was enough.

"One could see it that way" he smirked, glancing in the direction of his 'brothers'. He then turned back to me and continued "We, Marcus, Cauis, myself and our guard, are not the only powerful family of our kind. The Santorini, are another. They move their strongholds often and are incredibly elusive." His revelation caused my breath to hitch in my throat. "You mean there are two powerful families in control of all aspects of the vampire world?" I asked, stunned.

"Well, we are definitely stronger and instil more fear in vampires across the world, than the Santorini do, however, there have been murmurs and whispers that have been carried to Volterra, about a plot, by the Santorini, to try and overthrow us, in order to gain more power." While he spoke, he never took his eyes off my face, watching the expressions dance across my face. "As you know Bella, we recruit Vampires with special abilities; they form part of our guard. At his moment, our personal guard, stands at 63. Vampires that are highly trained, exceptionally skilled in many areas. However, that number does not include the 500 or so vampires that can be called to our aid in time of war. Vampires that owe us a debt for some past misdeed that was overlooked or cleaned up. The Santorini, have over the last few decades, also started recruiting gifted vampires. They are building an army for a war. A war that will be of such a magnitude,

it will not be able to be hidden from humans"

I was now totally confused; armies, war, gifted vampires, what in the world did that have to do with me and the predicament I was in? Aro must have understood the emotions that he could see running rampant across my face, but before he could utter a word, Marcus spoke out.

"Bella, do you remember what my ability entails?" His voice was soft and fluid. "You see the intensity of relationships" I answered. Remembering the last trip to Italy, where he had seen the immense depth to the feeling that Edward and I had shared. He nodded his head in approval. "When I looked at you and Edward, the intensity of your feelings, of your love, was not something that could be felt in any higher degree." I blinked at him, trying to comprehend what he was trying to tell me, when I didn't say anything, he continued "There is no way that Edward could love someone more than he loved you. It just wouldn't be possible. The strength of what he felt for you, was already at his maximum capacity." He stated it so matter-of-factly that I all I managed to utter was "I'm…confused" at which he chuckled.

"I have not seen Edward with this new woman, he claims to love more than you, but with my millennia of experience, I will tell you, that it is impossible for him to love her more than you, and it is even more impossible for him to stop loving you." He said it so simply, that it was easy enough to understand. "_You_ didn't see him in the forest that day! If you had, you would not that it is _not_ impossible!" I screamed at him, tears coursing down my cheeks, the huge gash in my chest felt like it was being ripped wider. "His eyes said it all, they were dead. It was like looking at a stranger" I whimpered the last words. The pain was so immense, that it felt like I was about to be engulfed by it and drown in its intensity.

"That in it self should tell you something Bella. It was not the Edward you knew" I looked at Aro dumbstruck, as if he were talking in pig Latin.

"I beg you pardon?" I hissed at him. His eyebrows rose at the venom in my voice, but continued regardless of my little emotional outburst. "We have told you that the Santorini want to take our place in the vampire world and they too have those that are gifted with special abilities. Is it that hard to comprehend, that they have sent someone to try and recruit the Cullens, a family of vampires that are blessed with some extraordinary abilities?" Aro asked me gently. When he stated it that way, it did make sense, I grudgingly admitted. "But why would that cause Edward to stop loving me? I can't see the connection" I was now getting impatient. I wanted this to all make sense.

Cauis, stepped forward and for the first time that day, he spoke. His voice was deep and melodious, but carried a tone of command that could not be mistaken. "Three months ago, two of our guards captured a Santorini spy, here in Volterra. He was procuring as much information about us as he could and then sending it back to his masters. Some very interesting things were discovered when he was placed in the care of Jane." An evil smirk lit his face as he no doubt thought back on that event. "It seems that one of the leaders of Santorini, is a woman with a rather remarkable gift. She has the ability to mimic and mirror the emotions of others. Unlike your friend Jasper, who manipulates them, she is able to force the transference of an emotion onto someone else. The spy did not give us her name, it was the one thing we could not get out of him, no matter how politely we asked" the smirk crossed his face again. I shivered at the memory of Jane using her power on Edward and Bree. Cauis seemed to have a rather dark sense of humour, which surprised me. I was so intrigued, I could have bitten off my tongue as I said, "Get on with it!" to Cauis. He laughed loudly before he continued.

"That dear Bella, is how this woman, who we now know as Nicole, got Edward to fall in love with her. She simply forced the transference of his love for you to her."

"Oh" I said lamely, that did make sense, but why? My eyebrows creased together in frustration. "For such a bright human Bella, you do take a while to catch on" Cauis remarked. "Thanks" I said sarcastically.

"The reason that she chose Edward, was because he was the one that had the most intense feelings. With your wedding approaching, I'm sure there was a sense of great anticipation as well. He was the most likely candidate. She could use him, to worm her way into the Cullens home and slowly start brainwashing them, without them even knowing it. All that effort, to get a few more abilities on their side. I must say though, with Alice and Edward's abilities, it would give them the edge in battle." Cauis added the last bit whimsically, as if it were something he wish he had. Everything clicked into place. That bitch was going to use my family to fight in a war to gain more power. They could get hurt. The thought of Esme fighting seasoned warriors, scared me.

"We need to do something. We need to stop her, them, whoever!" I had jumped out of my seat and had grabbed Caius by the arm during my impassioned tirade. He stared at me, then at my hand and cleared his throat. "Sorry" I mumbled and sat back down.

Aro, who had not spoken in a while, said " Bella, now that you know what is happening, you have two choices. One; you can become a member of our family, we will train you, equip you with all the skills you will need in this battle and we will allow you free passage to the Cullens to see what you can do about the situation there. The second choice, is far more simple. You die. You have heard too much here today to possibly be allowed to leave as you came. That is our offer."

"Wow, what choice to make? It really is a tough decision" I said sarcastically. "I choose option one, thank you. There are however a few basic requests that I would like you to honour" I was feeling very brave all of a sudden and couldn't quite identify why. Maybe it had something to do with the sense of euphoria that had enveloped me, since hearing that it was not that Edward didn't love me anymore, it was that emotion deflecting, love redirecting bitch, that had wrangled him around her finger.

"You are welcome to ask, but we will not guarantee that we will agree to keep them" Aro pointed out honestly.

"I have tremendous respect for Carlisle and his way of life, I would beg of you to please allow me to follow their feeding habits and to promise to restrain me from consuming human blood. It would break his heart to see me with red eyes of one that drinks human blood." I swallowed, my throat dry with anticipation. The brothers looked at one another, and simultaneously nodded their heads.

"Also, once this war has been averted, or won or whatever happens, would I be free to go back to my family?" My voice was full of hope. I crossed my fingers behind my back, praying that I would not have to be in their service of eternity.

Once again, they looked at one another. Their lips moving at an incredible rate. They were speaking, but I could not hear a word.

This time it was Marcus that answered. "If you can convince the Cullens to fight on our side, should a war arise, you will be free to go back to them." I breathed out a huge sigh of relief, it was very short lived though, because Marcus continued "But, you will still be held under obligation to return to us at any time, should it so be required. I can assure you, that until we know what your ability will be we cannot possibly project how often that need will arise. Those are our terms. Take them or leave them. It's your choice Bella"

I sat for a moment thinking. There really was no other alternative. I would simply have to choose door number one.

"Let's do this" I stated resolutely as I stood up squaring my shoulders.

"We will need time to prepare first Bella, we need to feed to ensure that we at least try not to kill you" Aro grinned at me, his teeth gleaming in the firelight.

"BELLA!" a voice screamed from somewhere near by. "BELLA! NO! DON'T DO THIS!" The brothers all looked at each other, surprise etched onto their faces. "BELLA!" the voice screamed again, before the doors were thrown open and crashed mightily against the shelves of books lining the walls. A small smile of disbelief crossed my face, before I felt my self black out.

AN) Okay, cliff hanger I know. But I'm not going to post the next chapter, which just might be in a certain bronze haired Adonis' point of view, until I get some reviews. Sorry!


	6. Equilibrium EPOV:

Chapter 6

**AN) I just wanted to warn you that there is some sexual content in this chapter. It is not explicit, but it is sexual. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and if it explains Edward's rather random behaviour and if I have made Nicole seem slightly odd enough to raise your suspicions now that you know where she is from and what her scaly machinations are about. Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 6

Equilibrium

EPOV

"Do you have any idea what you've done Edward?" Alice snarled at me as she stormed into my room.

"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me anyway" I snarled right back. I was sick to death of the hostile treatment I had received from my family these last 3 days that I had been home. I was glad that Nicole had insisted she go hunt alone. She wanted to give me some time to talk to my family. But I was glad that she, once again, did not have to deal with their out bursts.

I had been at Bella's house one night, almost a month ago, when I had gotten a call from Emmett. He said that he had been out hunting and had crossed a scent. It was a new scent, one that he did not recognize. I had gazed down at Bella's face. It was so peaceful in sleep that I did not want to wake her. I was sure that I could go meet with Emmett in the woods and investigate that mysterious new scent and be back in her room before she woke up. I placed a gentle kiss on her cheek and had leapt out her window.

I had followed Emmett's directions and within 5 minutes reached the spot where he waited for me. He led me to where he had smelled the scent. We considered calling the family, but decided that the two of us could handle this. We had split up and taken off in different direction, each following a path that the scent seemed to linger on.

While I ran, my mind was filled with thoughts of Bella and of how amazing it was that a in a week, we would be married. My greatest desire was a week away from being fulfilled. Bella would be mine, she would be my wife. I could barely suppress the smile that spread across my face at that thought. I had been so preoccupied with those thoughts that I hadn't been paying particular attention to where I was going. I stopped to try and get my bearings and to see if I could still smell the scent, when a slight movement, caught my eye.

I was in a small clearing. A figure detached itself from the shadows and walked slowly towards me. I growled a warning at the stranger, who stopped moving forward and stood still. "Who are you and what are you doing on our land?" I asked. My voice full of tension. I did not like the fact that there was a strange vampire lurking in the woods so close to Bella.

"I'm just passing through" the silhouette's soft voice floated towards me It sounded like the tinkling of bells. I was so mesmerised by the sound of her voice, that I did not move or utter a sound.

She stepped into a pool of moonlight and I let out a soft gasp. Standing before me, was the most breathtakingly beautiful woman I had ever seen. She was about 5ft4, her head almost reached my shoulders, he hair was a deep shade of mahogany, that made my mind tweak, trying to remember where I had seen a colour that deep and lustrous before. It fell in large curls over her shoulders and down her back. Her face was slightly round; her skin was like ivory silk. Her lips were full and a deep crimson red. But what hit me the hardest, were her eyes. They were the colour of honey, deep and luminous. If I had a heart, it would be hammering away in my chest in reaction to the exquisite creation that stood in front of me now, her body shimmering in the silver moonlight.

"I am Nicole" she introduced herself. There was a slight European tint in her accent.

"My name is Edward Cu… Cullen" I stammered. Where did that come from? I normally never had a problem talking. I listened intently to catch the tenor of her mind, but was amazed to find that I could not hear her thoughts. How strange.

From that moment on, there had been no turning back. I now know what those mutts felt like when they imprinted on their mates. I looked at Nicole and every other emotion I had ever felt, paled in comparison to what I felt when our eyes met.

I had known her for all of five minutes, when I acted on impulse and crushed her beautiful body against mine and had ravaged her lips. She didn't fight me, but parted her lips to allow me access to her mouth. Before I could blink, we had torn each other's clothes off and I had her backed against a tree. Her nails raked across my back, as she wrapped her long, slender legs around my waist. She cried out as I thrust into her, begging me not to stop. Her groans ignited the beast in me and I thrust harder and deeper, eliciting an even wilder response from her. She came over and over again, her pelvic muscles clenching tightly around me. As I came, I roared louder than I think I ever had. We sank to the ground, both rasping for breath. We stared intently into one another's eyes. I knew then, that there was no turning back. This was the woman that was my soul mate, the emotion I felt for her, crashed over me, again and again. She smiled at me, took my hand and in a tiny voice said "Even though we just met, I think I love you. I feel like I'm about to explode with all the emotion that is filling me right now." I had stared down at her and then repeated her words to her. They didn't shock me, they made sense. They felt right.

We lay talking for hours. I told her of my predicament with Bella. Now that I had met her, there was no way I could go through with the wedding. What I had with Bella already seemed like a distant memory. I needed to go and see my family and tell them about this new development. They were going to be incredibly upset. This was something that I was not looking forward to, at all.

I took Nicole home with me, disregarding all the thoughts that assaulted me as my family watched me lead another woman up to my room. I think they were all too shocked to react physically. Once I was sure Nicole was comfortable, I headed back down stairs. Might as well get done with it.

"Before any of you say anything, I would appreciate it if we could take this discussion outside, away from the house" I hissed at them. My discomfort made my voice sound very hostile. I turned on my heels and sped into the forest. Once we had gone a short distance, I turned to look at my family. They stood shoulder to shoulder in a loose semi-circle around me. The expressions on their faces ranging from confusion to utter disbelief, to murderous.

As head of our family, I expected Carlisle to start speaking first, but Alice beat him to it "What the hell is going on Edward. Why is there another woman in your room?" anger and hurt dripped from her words.

"Nicole is what happened." I said simply, tightly controlling my voice. "I met her in the forest last night, and well I guess '_true_ love at first sight' describes it best"

There were collective gasps and growls from my family. "Edward, you can't be serious? You are marrying Bella in a week, what the hell brought this on?" Alice ranted at me

"Unfortunately, there are just some things that cannot be avoided. I think Bella and I rushed into things. We are so inexperienced, that we thought the first person to cause us to have butterflies in our stomachs, was the one. I see now that it was a very childish assumption, now that I have found Nicole, now I know, what I felt for Bella, cannot be compared to the way I feel about her." I ground out at her, feeling my temper rising.

"Edward Cullen, I will crush you and grind you into a very fine powder, if you think that I'm going to let you hurt Bella again. She loves you, why are you doing this?" Alice said through bared teeth, her fists clenching at her sides.

"Alice, I don't think the wedding can go on, even if Edward has somehow managed to cause damage to his brain. It wouldn't be fair on either of them" Jasper stepped forward and pulled Alice into his arms. . "His feelings for this…Nicole are pretty intense, they're pouring off him in waves" A look of anger flitted across his face. As he spoke a loud growl tore from Emmett's chest and Rosalie had to wrap her arms around him to restrain him from attacking me. Esme let out a gasp as she reached for Carlisle's hand. It pained me to see my mother with so much hurt in her eyes.

All of a sudden, the sound of a heart wrenching sob echoed through the tense silence. Bella was standing on a low rise in the shadow filled forest. Alice raced to her side. Her thought full of venom aimed only at me. Esme followed her and placed a hand on Bella's cheek, as she lay pressed to Alice's shoulder. This sight should have filled me with remorse or at the very least guilt, but I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"Edward…" I heard my name as Bella cried out, in between sobs, she reached her hand out to me. I looked down at her, feeling only emptiness, where I was once so full of love for her. But now, that love belonged to someone else

.

"I'm sorry Bella. I didn't want you to find out this way. I can't be with you, now that I have discovered what true love really is. I can't be a part of a lie, just to keep my family happy. I don't love you; it was just an infatuation and be grateful that I came to my senses before I took your humanity away". At least one good thing would come from this. Bella would be able to continue living out her human life, which is what I had always wanted for her, was it not? As I had uttered the words, Bella's entire body started shaking with the force of her sobs. I didn't want to stand here and watch her suffer. I needed to get away, away from my family for a while, to give myself time to adjust to all the changes that had happened so quickly.

I turned and fled into the forest. I was still quite close when I heard Emmett spit out "I'll kill him if I find him!" Perhaps that was another reason to get away for a while. Give everyone a chance to cool down.

I headed home, and despite the horrible scene that had just occurred in the forest, I felt my stomach clench in anticipation of seeing Nicole again.

Once home, I raced up the stairs and opened my door, to find her sitting on my bed, an anxious look on her face. I scooped her up into my arms and kissed her deeply. "I think you and I need to get out of here for a while" I smiled down at her. She didn't ask any questions, she simply nodded. With that, I carried her down stairs to my car, placed her in the passenger side gently and went across to the driver's side. I started the car and sped down the drive way. Near the entrance, I saw Bella's truck. That explained how she had found us in the forest. Somewhere in the back of my mind, there was a niggling feeling, but as soon as I tried to identify what it was, it disappeared.

For almost a month, Nicole and I had moved from place to place. It was exciting and we made love every opportunity we got. However, I started to feel a growing sense of unease and would catch Nicole looking at me strangely sometimes. When she saw that I had caught her, she would look away with an almost guilty expression clouding her face. Eventually, I decided that we needed to head back to the family, a decision which she agreed to with a lot of enthusiasm. This surprised me. She and I both knew that the family would not be very welcoming to her, but she generally shrugged her shoulders and stated that it was where we were meant to be.

The trip home was made in silence. Apprehension filled my body at the thought of the confrontation I was sure would result from our return. That niggling feeling worked itself free in the back of my mind as we passed the sign that welcomed people to Forks. As I tried to formulate what that feeling meant, it disappeared. The same as the last time I'd felt it. I reached across and clasped Nicole's hand in mine. Needing the reassurance I felt every time I touched her.

As we approached the house, I saw that all the lights were off. They weren't home. Despite the slight relief I felt at our confrontation being postponed, I also felt slightly heart sore. I had missed my family and a part of me was looking forward to seeing them again.

Nicole and I walked up the porch steps and stood looking at one another at the front door. "Here goes" I sighed and opened the door. The house was cloaked in an eerie silence. We made our way up the stairs in the darkness and up to my room. I turned on the light and was met with a sight that made me freeze in mid stride. My room had been completely trashed. My cd's lay scattered on the floor. My stereo system had been crushed into a thousand little pieces. The sofa looked like it had been attacked by a mountain lion. The only thing that was untouched was the bed. A scent that I had forgotten drifted up to my nose. I inhaled deeply. It was Bella's scent. That niggling was back and it irritated me, because I couldn't figure out what it meant.

"So, do you approve of my redecorating skills?" Alice's voice sneered from behind me. Nicole and I turned slowly. Alice was standing in the doorway, her eyes sending daggers at me. _The only reason your bed is still in one piece is because it has Bella's scent on it. If you let that tramp sleep in it, I will kill you both. _Her thoughts dripped with acid.

Before I even had a chance to respond, she turned on her heel and walked away.

This is how it had been for three days. No one spoke to me, not even Carlisle and Esme. It hurt that they were so unwilling to see my side. How could I give up on the love I felt for Nicole? How could they not understand that she was the one I was meant to be with?

The confrontation I had feared did not come to pass. I instead had to deal with the venomous thoughts of my family, all day. I was hoping with time they would adjust and come to accept Nicole. Once they let themselves get to know her, they would also love her.

Nicole had adapted pretty well, considering my family acted as if she were a disease that they could contract. I was relieved that she could not hear their thoughts. If she could, I doubt she wouldn't be nearly as comfortable as she appeared.

"EDWARD!" Alice's voice grated against my ears as she drew me out from reminiscing over all that had occurred the past month.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT ALICE" I yelled back at her, my temper flaring.

"Did you hear a word that I said?" she asked. Her voice dangerously soft.

"No Alice. I'm so sick of having to listen to all your venomous thoughts, I must have tuned you out" I said honestly. Irritation flickered across her face.

"I thought you would like to know that Bella is on her way to Italy" she said. When I didn't respond, she added in a slow clear voice as if I was and idiot.

"The Volturri are in Italy, Edward. She has gone to the Volturri, to ask them to turn her into a _vampire"_. She had laid emphasis on the last word, as if it should be of particular importance to me.

"The decisions that Bella makes, are no longer my concern, Alice." I looked straight into her eyes, my face betraying no emotion. That niggling feeling was back and I suppressed a growl that I could feel about to start building in my chest. These responses confused me. Why did I react this way when I heard Bella's name?

I did not have the time to ponder on why I reacted the way I did, because I felt an incredible impact against my chest and I was then hurtling through the air, before making contact with the wall. As my body crashed into the wall, I felt the dry walling implode on itself with the force I slammed into it. I landed on the floor in a shower of plaster and splintered wood.

I looked at Alice in surprise. She still stood with her leg in the air from the round-house she had dealt me. Her eyes bore into mine. _If I'm late Edward and I don't save Bella, you better make yourself disappear, because if I find you, I will tear you apart. You will suffer for every tear Bella has ever wasted on you, every cut, bruise and stitch Bella has had to endure because she loved you. I can promise you, once I am done with you, the rest of this family will be waiting for their turn. What you have become disgusts me and I cannot stand even being in the same room as you. So I suggest you take your new little floozy and get the hell out of this house, as far away as possible. _Her voice oozed malice and hate. The sheer intensity of the emotions that accompanied her thoughts knocked the air from my lungs. I had never heard Alice even think anything with such menace before. It rocked me to my core, that my sister hated me.

She started to make her way out the room, before turning and staring at me again. "Mark my words Edward. If I'm too late, hell is probably far enough away for you to run to" A vicious smirk twisted her beautiful face into a macabre mask. She turned and stalked out of the room.

I felt my dead heart shatter into a million pieces and I was surprised to feel that it was not only because my sister now hated me, but because of something or someone that I could not even begin to comprehend.

p.s) I'm getting married on Saturday. After posting 6 chapters (5 of them relatively long ones) in two days, I hope I have left you with enough to satisfy your appetites for now. I am hoping to post a few more chapters sometime next week. So much to do, so little time. How soon next week they'll be posted, depends entirely on the reviews I receive for my "Edward" chapter. LOL. Have a wonderful weekend!


	7. Almost There

**AN) This is more of a filler for all the action that happens in the next chapter. Bear with me. REVIEW**

Chapter 7

Almost There.

"Bella?" a familiar voice stirred my mind. I tried to focus on its source. Everything felt so surreal. I seemed to be floating in a pool of warm water.

"Bella" There was that voice again. I tried to orientate myself in the direction that it was coming from. I felt my body rising out of the warm liquid that surrounded me.

"I think she's coming around" another voice sounded somewhere above me. "She's had to take in a lot today, I think her mind needed to reboot itself" the voice mused quietly. I frowned at what I took as an insult about my brain.

"Bella, can you hear me?" It was the first voice again. Why couldn't they leave me to float in my pool? Everything was so peaceful here. As I was thinking about my surroundings, I started to see flashes, there were mumbled voices somewhere close by. Now they've gone and done it, I thought angrily, I could feel myself slipping away from my warm pool. My head started pounding and I could feel something cold pressed against my back.

"Bella, open your eyes!" The first voice ordered me. "I know you can hear me!"

"Leave me alone, I want to go back to my pool" I groaned.

There was a collective rumble of laughter around me. I tried to open my eyes to see what was going on. My lids felt so heavy, like they were weighted down. Suddenly I was engulfed by waves of energy. My eyes snapped open.

I sat upright and tried to take in the sight that lay before me.

"What are you doing here?" I managed to choke out

"You think that I'd let you do something so idiotic and irresponsible without at least trying to reason with you?" Alice asked, a small smile spreading across her lips.

"I didn't think that you'd have a vision about me with your thoughts so centred on trying to find your brother" I replied.

"My _brother _arrived home 4 days ago" There was something in Alice's tone that led me to believe that she was quite worked up about something. "That freed up my vision nicely." She chuckled lightly.

"And let me tell you, a vision of you standing alone in front of these three" she gestured towards the Volturri who stood a few feet away, "asking to be turned into a vampire, almost gave me a heart attack, which is not an easy task, I promise you" she ended with a wink at me.

I had missed my friend so much; I looked into her eyes and saw that she too was in pain. I threw my arms around her neck. All the emotion that had been building up in me these last few days, erupted. I sobbed into the crook of her neck. Relieved to at least have someone here that loved me, when I took this step.

"Jasper, some help please. She's 12 seconds away from hysteria" Alice murmured over my shoulder. I felt waves of calm wash over me, it helped me catch my breath and still my tears. I turned to look at Jasper who stood behind me. He smiled kindly and approached slowly. He laid his hand on my shoulder and I felt a complete peace envelope me.

"That help?" he asked

"Thank you" I managed to get out before a hiccup burst from my chest.

Someone to my right cleared their throat. I turned to see Aro step forward. Jasper moved himself between Alice and I and the Volturri.

"I am sure that the three of you have much to discuss, but I would like for Alice and Jasper to hear all that we have talked about tonight Bella" his voice was soft and gentle. I nodded dumbly at him. "Jasper, we mean Bella no harm. She's has been here for many hours already and nothing has befallen her"

Jasper stepped back and stood on my other side. The Volturri motioned for us to sit. Once we were settled Aro launched into reciting all that we had discussed this afternoon. Alice and Jasper sat motionless, pure concentration etched on their faces.

Eventually Aro finished talking. Alice and Jasper sat still for a few moments. Alice suddenly bounced up and streaked to the other end of the room. 5 pairs of eyes followed her as she paced.

"I knew there was something wrong with that tramp! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" she punched her fist in the air, a look of triumph on her face. She then proceeded to mutter to herself for a few minutes, with us still watching her.

"Something needs to be done about this" She had turned and faced us. "We need to go speak to Carlisle."

"You and Jasper are welcome to leave. Bella will stay. We have a bargain" Marcus stated from his position that hadn't seemed to have moved all afternoon. He was still standing by the fire place.

"I can't allow that" Alice stated matter-of-factly.

"_You_ have no choice" Cauis hissed. "Bella has already agreed to it. Before this night is over, her transformation will be under way" My stomach lurched at the thought.

Alice stared wide eyed at the Volturri. She could see that they were deadly serious and there was little she could so to stop them.

"Then at least allow me to be the one" she whispered. I stared at her. She would do that? My stomach seemed to settle a bit. If it were Alice that changed me, then at least a part of me would still belong to the Cullen's.

The Volturri looked tensely at one another. In mere seconds, they turned back to us. "We see no problem with your suggestion. Are you certain that you will have the restraint needed to not kill her" Aro asked Alice.

"There is absolutely no chance that I will not be able to restrain myself" Alice looked dead sure. I threw my arms around her for the second time that night. "Oh, Alice. Thank you! You'll never know how much this means to me. I will owe you forever!" I grinned at her through my tears. If she was here, I knew that I was going to be alright.

"I will need to hunt soon if you want me to change her tonight" Alice said to the three vampires by the fireplace.

"Felix will take you to a suitable location where you will be able to feed" Aro told her. "Be back in two hours, we will have everything prepared upon your return."

"Fine" was all Alice said. She turned to look at me. "Everything will be fine Bella, I promise you. I will stay with you as long as you need me, Jasper too." I looked at him for reassurance. He smiled brilliantly at me. "We really need to get going if we want to meet their deadline" her hand flew to her mouth as she realised the pun she had unintentionally uttered. I burst out laughing at the expression on her face.

"You better go, before they decide to have me for dinner" I shrugged in the direction of the Volturri, who chuckled at my joke. Alice placed a swift peck on my cheek and squeezed my hand and ran towards the door.

"Wait! Alice, before you go" I called out to her. She turned to look at me. "Does he know that I am here?" I needed to know. Even if that bitch was controlling him, somewhere within me I believed that the love we had was greater than the power over him. That buried deep within him, he was somehow still aware of me, of his love for me.

Alice hesitated before she answered, that alone caused tears to fill my eyes. It seemed to me that she was choosing her words very carefully. "He knows, Bella. I gave him the opportunity to come with me, but he said that the choices you make no longer mean anything to him" She ended with a heartbreakingly sad look on her face. Even though I knew it was not really Edward that had said those things, something somewhere in me shrivelled and died. "I'm sorry Bella! It's awful, I know. Trust me, I had to stand and look at him as he spoke that crap. But I made sure he knew what I thought about his responses" she said. A devilish grin spread across her face.

"How?"I asked, momentarily distracted.

"Let's just say there is now an Edward shaped hole in the middle of the wall in his room. Alice delivered a round-house kick to his chest. A kick that would make any professional wrestler incredibly envious" Jasper answered, smiling down at his wife.

I couldn't help myself. I giggled at the thought of tiny Alice resorting to violence.

"We have to go, but I promise you we'll be back before you know it" She whispered into my ear and gave me a hug.

I watched her and Jasper join Felix, who had been waiting at the entrance to the library. Alice turned one last time and smiled reassuringly at me. I waved, but she was already gone.

"Well Bella, I would be lying if I told you I'm not happy with this development" Aro winked at me. "This has turned out rather well for all of us. Alice will change you, which means there is now less chance of one of us accidentally killing you, despite our best intentions."

"For once, I actually agree with something you have said" I smiled at him, safe in the knowledge that his teeth were coming nowhere near me.

"Before they return, would like to have one last meal?" Marcus asked. I was strangely touched by his thoughtfulness.

"No thank you. I would like a hot shower though if it's possible. It's been a long day" I asked, hoping that they had hot water here.

"Of course, I will call someone to help you" Marcuse said as he floated to what looked like an intercom on the wall next to fireplace. He spoke into it quickly.

Almost immediately there was a knock on the door, followed by it opening. A woman entered, one that looked familiar. "Gianna!" I exclaimed before I could stop myself. So the Volturri had turned her and not had her as a snack. She smiled back at me. She seemed to know what I had been thinking. "Bella, it's a pleasure to see you again. If you'll follow me, I'll show you to the guest bathroom." She held out her hand to me. I took it hesitantly. She gently tugged me out the room.

"We will be here when you return Bella" Aro called after me.

I followed Gianna down a maze of corridors. She eventually stopped in front of one and opened it, indicating that I should enter. "There are fresh clothes laid out for you on the bench next to the shower. They might seem a bit loose and baggy now, but believe me, you'll be grateful for that later" She smiled kindly at me. I knew that she was alluding to her change. "Thank you, I appreciate your kindness" I said, slightly embarrassed.

"I will be right outside should you need anything" she smiled at me again and swiftly closed the door. I turned around to gasp. The bathroom was beautiful. Pure white marble shot with golden veins covered every surface. The shower did not have doors, the water simply drained through an outlet in the corner of the room. A bench sat against the far wall. True to her word, Gianna had placed a pile of neatly folded clothes upon it. I didn't want to waste time, so stripped of the grimy jeans and shirt that I had travelled in. I turned the faucets and multiple jets of water burst from hidden nozzles in the wall. Once the water was at the right temperature, I stepped into the midst of the spray.

I eventually dragged myself from the shower, dried myself and put on the baggy sweats and sweater, smiling to myself as they hung loosely from my body. I folded mu dirty clothes neatly, along with the towels and placed them on the bench. I stepped out the bathroom, to find Gianna waiting for me. "Are you ready to go back" she asked politely.

"It's now or never" I replied, apprehension filling me at the thought of what would be happening to me in a few minutes.

We walked down the maze of corridors again. Gianna stopped outside a room that was not the library. I raised my eyebrows at her. "This is where it will all happen, Bella. They are waiting for you" she smiled as I visibly gulped down the fear that tried to claw its way up my throat. "I look forward to meeting again in a few days. I'm sure we'll be great friends" Her kindness brought tears to my eyes. I was glad that the Volturri had decided to keep her instead of eat her. She nudged me through the threshold.

Alice and Jasper were back. Only Aro represented the Volturri. The room was sparsely furnished. A large bed sat in the centre, a chair was placed next to it. What I did notice though was a massive air conditioner above the bed. Aro caught the direction of my gaze. "It helps to ease the discomfort somewhat" he stated.

"Let's do this" I surprised myself by saying. I just wanted this ordeal to be over with so that I could be beautiful and indestructible. Then, I could go and fight for the man I loved.

Jasper and Aro left the room, but stood at the entrance. "Good luck Bella. I'll be in as soon as Alice has cleaned up the blood. I want to help as much as I can" Jasper called to me softly.

"Thank you" my throat clogged up at the thought that soon he wouldn't have to worry about my blood anymore.

"We'll see you soon Bella." Was all Aro said as he closed the door.

Alice and I stared at each other. "I can't believe I am about to do this" she said shaking her head. "I think you should lie down, it would be easier"

I just nodded and went to lie down on the bed. "Thank you Alice. I'm glad that it's you. I'm glad to have someone that loves me do this. Thank you." I clasped her hand as the tears poured from my eyes.

"I promise you Bella, it'll be ok in the end. If it's not ok, it's not the end" She smiled a sad smile at me. "I'm sorry that I have to hurt you, but I'll try do it as quickly as I can"

I closed my eyes as I felt her lift my wrist of the bed. I felt her cold breath against my skin. Suddenly, her teeth tore in my flesh. Her venom poured into my flesh. For the second time that day, I was covered in darkness.

AN2) Are you disappointed it wasn't Edward? Sorry!


	8. Startling Discoveries

Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Startling Discoveries.**

I was viciously sucked back to reality by a pain so fierce, it crushed my lungs. I couldn't breathe, let alone scream out in agony. I was hyper aware of the venom that spread through my body, like molten rock, searing my flesh.

Tears coursed down my cheeks and to my surprise, an icy finger wiped them away.

"I'm here Bella" Alice's voice echoed through my mind as if she were miles away and not right next to me. I knew Jasper was in the room, I could feel the waves of peace he tried to engulf me in barely make an impact. They were both here with me. That alone should have brought me some sort of comfort, some sort of relief, but it didn't. The one person that I had bargained on being at my side as I went through this transformation was not there. He was thousands of miles away, with someone else. For the briefest moment, the pain that stabbed through my heart, cancelled out the enormous burning pain that raced though my veins. Edward should have been here with me, holding me, reassuring me, loving me, instead of her.

I don't know how long I lay there. Minutes, hours, days. The pain was so intense, every second felt like an eternity. Eventually, the pain receded. It happened so slowly at first that I did not even realize it. I could feel my heart beat soften and it finally stuttered to a halt.

I lay with my eyes closed. Scared to open them, terrified to see what I had become. There was no turning back. I clenched my hands, took a deep breath and opened my eyes.

"Hello there" Alice chirped at me from the chair next to the bed. I turned to her, apprehensive about her seeing my eyes, which were no doubt the blood red colour of a new born vampire. As our eyes met, a gasp escaped from her mouth. I cringed. Was it that bad? Was I such a monster that even Alice was repulsed by me? I raised my knees and hid my face in my arms that rested on them.

"Oh Bella! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you." She pleaded as she placed her hand on my head. "You just look a bit different than I had expected"

I slowly raised my head, my eyes searching her face for any sign of regret that she may have had for changing me into a monster. Instead, her face was covered by a beautiful smile. "When I had a vision about this moment, I couldn't see the colour of your eyes and they just surprised me. That's all. I promise" She was desperate to reassure me. I blinked up at her, not able to find my voice.

She sped out the room and was back in a fraction of a section carrying a large frame in her hands. She stood at the foot of the bed and slowly turned the frame around. It was a beautiful antique gilded mirror. The same gasp that had escaped Alice's lips, escaped mine. I stared at my reflection. The only thing that came to focus, were my eyes. They were not the red that they should have been, the red that belonged to a new born. They weren't even any shade of red. The eyes that stared back at me were a deep blue. As I continued to look into the mirror, my eyes glittered like sapphires.

"How?" was all I managed to mumble to Alice, who still stood holding the huge mirror.

"I have no idea Bella" She answered honestly. "I can't even begin to speculate. But I will tell you, I have a dress that will look gorgeous with those eyes" she grinned at me. I couldn't help but let out a small giggle. I felt the tension that had swamped me, slowly start to lift.

"Hello Jasper" I called as the door opened. Jasper stepped into the room and froze in place, mid-stride. His eyes fixed on mine. He turned to look at Alice, a questioning look on his face.

"Don't ask me" she said shrugging her shoulders. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see if her eye colour has any connection to her ability" that was as far as she seemed to want to go.

"Bella, I can feel some of the emotions that you are feeling, but I cannot detect any sort of need to feed. Are you hungry" Jasper asked me, still staring at my face.

I tried to focus on what I was feeling. There was definitely no all-consuming blood lust raging through my body, there wasn't even a strong need to find some sort of sustenance. The only thing that indicated any level of hunger was a slight tickling at the back of my throat.

I looked at him, with surprise on my face. "All I can feel is a small sensation at the back of my throat, but nothing unbearable." I was very relieved to not have to deal with losing control of myself. Somehow I just knew that I was not going to be a normal new born vampire. I was anything but normal as a human, and it did not surprise me to find that that specific trait seemed to have transferred to me as a vampire.

"We should let Aro know that you are awake" Alice said while placing the mirror carefully against the wall. "I don't think he was expecting it to be so soon, but he should be pleased nonetheless." She added turning to me.

"What do you mean 'so soon'" I quoted her, confused by what she had just said.

"Your transformation only took one night, Bella. Nineteen hours to be exact, for which you were only conscious for four."

"What?" I asked, completely confused.

"Well, right after I… bit you" Alice had cast me a sheepish look before she continued "you passed out cold. You were hardly even breathing. And then, about four hours ago, you woke up, but didn't open your eyes. You just lay there, writhing in silence"

"But, that doesn't make any sense. I thought that it would take at least three days" I was confounded as to why my change had happened so rapidly.

"I can't answer those questions Bella. Perhaps one of the Volturri will be able to help. If not, I could always call Carlisle." A thoughtful look passed over Alice's face, as if she were busy formulating her own theories in her mind.

The day passed in a rapid succession of sight, scents and sounds. With my new heightened senses, everything seemed to take on a new quality. Everything was so intense. I simply sat and watched as time flew by. Aro, Marcus and Caius had come in to inspect me, like some new exotic pet. They had conversed among themselves about my eyes and what they could possibly represent. Eventually, they had left, suggesting to Alice that I should hunt. Demitri had been ordered to take us out into the forests that surrounded the city.

Gianna had brought a set of clean clothes to the room. Surprise had flittered across her face as our eyes met, but it was quickly replaced by a warm smile. The clothes fit perfectly, unlike the last time she had given me clothes.

Demitri led Alice, Jasper and me down to an underground parking lot. He motioned for us to get into a huge, black SUV with dark tinted windows. He expertly manoeuvred the vehicle out into the street.

I instantly caught the scent of a human. I was thrilled that it incited absolutely no response in me, whatsoever. Perhaps, this meant that I would have no problem adjusting to life as a "vegetarian" vampire.

Once we had reached the forest, Alice, Jasper and I headed into the dark shadows. Demitri had opted to stay in the vehicle, stating that he was not in the mood for venison.

I watched Alice and Jasper as they walked. I tried to mimic their graceful movements. It was surprising to find that I didn't even have to try that hard, it seemed to come naturally. Every now and then a shaft of sunlight that filtered through the canopy above would reflect off my skin in a myriad of rainbows and sparkles. I held my hand up and stared intently at my granite-like skin and watched the light glimmer across the surface.

"Bella" Alice called to me, from a few feet away. I looked up at her, fascination clear on

my face. "Don't worry. The novelty will eventually wear off" she laughed gently and was rewarded with a light chuckle from Jasper.

"You need to hunt. Given that you didn't react to the smell of humans, I'm willing to bet that even hunting animals will not come naturally to you. So you need to listen carefully" She was serious now. I nodded my head and smiled at her to continue.

She went into detail about different hunting methods, which I could use on different animals, how to kill my prey and then to dispose of it's body. Alice asked Jasper to demonstrate to me how to take down a deer. I sat with Alice on the rise of a small hill in the forest and watched Jasper stalk a small herd of deer fifty yards away.

The deer were completely unaware of what lurked in the forest. Jasper used the wind to his advantage, ensuring that his scent was carried away from his intended prey. He was about ten feet away from the small group, before they caught scent of a predator. Before they could turn tail to flee, Jasper pounced. He snapped the neck of the large buck. He then stood and motioned for us to join him.

As we walked towards Jasper a feeling of sympathy for the poor deer, rose in my throat. I was going to have to drink the blood of one of these beautiful creatures.

Alice told me to take the buck and bite into the soft flesh at its neck, a few inches below its jaw line. I stood staring at her. I couldn't bring myself to kneel down and rip the animal's throat out. If this ended in a stare-down, I knew who would win. I let out a huge sigh and knelt down next to the deer. I put my lips against its throat, and bit down. The blood that spurted into my mouth was lukewarm. The blood was cooling quickly. I had to force myself to swallow huge mouthfuls, careful not to breathe through my nose. The blood was thick and salty. I had to resist the urge to gag.

After I had completely drained the deer, I looked up at Alice, unsure of what to do next.

"We need to hide the evidence" She stated simply as if it were the most normal thing in the world, like brushing teeth. She dragged the body of the deer towards a large tree. She pushed against the trunk. I was amazed to see the tree shudder. The roots started to lift out of the ground. Once there was a big enough gap, she used one hand to stuff the dry carcass of the deer into the hole. That done, she gently eased the pressure against the tree's stem and it seemed to settle back into place gently.

"Wow" was all I managed to get out after witnessing tiny Alice partially push a tree out of the ground. "It's easier than it looks" she said nonchalantly.

"Now that you've eaten, we need to go and see the Volturri to find out what their plans are, so that we can formulate our own." Her voice was suddenly very serious. "They will no doubt want some time to see what ability you develop, but we need to get you out of here as soon as possible. Every day that we are away, gives that… that woman, a chance to tighten her grasp on my brother."

That was all I heard Alice say. Edward. I hadn't thought about him in a while. Since awakening as a vampire, everything had happened so quickly. My senses were taking in so much all the time; my mind was constantly whirring with the effort it took to catalogue all the new sights, scents and sensations. I had to get back to Forks to fight for Edward, fight for my forever.

"I will convince Aro to allow me to go" I said sounding far more confident than I truly felt. Alice and Jasper looked at me with curiosity. "How exactly do you plan on getting that right" Alice ask, her voice coloured with doubt.

"I'll ask him. Simple." It had seemed to work the first time. Simple is always better.

Alice closed her eyes. I cast a worried look at Jasper. He smiled reassuringly. Alice was trying to conjure a vision of our meeting with the Volturri.

A huge smile spread across Alice's face. My hopes lifted. "They'll eventually agree. But they will make you promise to return once this thing is over. You will also have to report back to them often, to let them know what is happening" Alice's voice was saturated with giddiness and relief.

"Can it possibly be that simple?" I questioned her.

"It seems so. According to my vision, we should be back in Forks in less than 24 hours" She clapped her hands excitedly and threw herself at Jasper, who caught her and hugged her tightly.

In less than 24 hours, I was going to see Edward. I wondered how he would react to my change, or if he would even care. Despite the fact that I knew when I got there, the Edward I knew, would not be there, I couldn't help but feel buoyed. He was in there somewhere and I would just have to find a way to reach him.

**AN) Sorry it**** took so long. It really didn't turn out the way I expected it to. I'm actually quite disappointed with it. I just want her and Edward to come face to face and if I had gone into too much detail in this chapter, it would have been very long and that means it would take that much longer for Edward to reappear. Let me know what you think please. The next few chapters are going to be intense (hopefully! They are in my mind). Enjoy. Please review, it's difficult to write when you don't know if people are enjoying it or not. **


	9. Almost Too Much To Bear

Chapter 9

AN) Please let me know what you think. I would like at least 10 reviews of the story thus far, before I post the next chapter. Which is awesome, if I don't say so myself. You won't be disappointed. I promise. Enjoy!

**Chapter 9**

**Almost Too Much T****o Bear.**

I swallowed a loud gulp as I felt the plane begin to descend. The pilot's voice crackled over the loudspeaker, informing the passengers of our imminent arrival. The seat belt sign, blinked cheerfully in rhythm to the annoying pinging noise that accompanied it. In less than 2 hours, we would be back in Forks. I looked over at Alice, who was seated across the aisle from me, for some sort of reassurance.

Alice was huddled into Jasper's shoulder, who was whispering sweet nothings into her ear. No reassurance there. If I had a heart, it would be slamming against my ribs and if I could perspire, I know there would beads of moisture coursing down my body.

All that had happened in the last few days had transpired so quickly, I had had no opportunity to really think about the repercussions of any of my actions. I was heading back in to Forks as a vampire. Regardless of the fact that I did not lust for human blood, any blood actually, come to think of it, I still could not see Charlie. Even with tinted contact lenses to hide my new eye colour, there were still too many physical changes that could be explained away. My face was gaunter, sharper. My hair was a darker shade of mahogany, thick and lustrous. My body was more sculpted, muscles and contours defined. Besides my eyes, my breasts had given me the second greatest shock. They were at least a cup size fuller and incredibly perky. Alice had laughed at me for staring at my new self in the mirror for so long. Perhaps if I waited a few months to see Charlie, he would be able to put down my significant physical changes to travelling and maturing. That thought brought about a small flicker of hope that started to warm my chest and ease the pressure I felt suffocating me.

Alice and I had not really had the chance to discuss much. Everything had happened so quickly. Since leaving Volturra, she had been slipping in and out of the trance-like state that descends over her when she has a vision. I was incredibly nervous at the prospect of seeing Edward. I had to guard my heart from shattering when I saw him with her. Despite the fact that I knew him to be under some sort of spell, I knew deep down that it was going to hurt. It was going to hurt like hell, watching him love someone else the way that he had loved me. I would just have to wait and see if there was any loophole in the spell he was under and bide my time to use the opportunities that were presented to their greatest capacity. Alice and I had no game plan. We had decided to see how things were in Forks, before devising a more concrete plan.

I was dragged out of my thoughts, by the sound of buckles being unsnapped. I looked across at Alice and Jasper. They were busy getting some luggage from the overhead compartments. I had a carry bag full of clothes, compliments of Alice that I reached up to tug from the compartment above my head. There was a sigh to my left; it was Alice waiting impatiently in the aisle that had separated our seats. "Are you ready for this Bella?" She asked, raising a pair of perfect jet-black eyebrows.

"That is a question I seem to have been asked quite a few times these last few days" I grinned at her, but then added more seriously "I'm scared out of my wits Alice. What if this was all for nothing? What if I can't reach him?" I'm sure if it had been possible, tears would have been welling up in my eyes by now.

"It'll all work out Bella. There is just no other alternative I am willing to accept" Alice said. Determination etched on her face.

A feeling of calm engulfed me and I looked at Jasper sadly. "Thanks, I think I needed that"

"No problem Bella, we're here for you, you know. No matter what happens in the next few hours, just know that we're here" He smiled kindly at me.

"Let's get going, no use postponing the inevitable" Alice muttered.

We made our way off the plane and into the darkness of the parking garage where Alice's bright yellow Porsche was parked. "I didn't want to use this car out of principle, but Jasper, being logical as ever, reminded me that it was the fastest way to get to the airport to save you from becoming a late afternoon snack for the Volturri" Alice attempted to make the remark sound humorous, but bitterness clouded her words.

"Alice, you don't need to angry at Edward for my sake. Besides, we now know why he did the things he did." I said to her, wanting to make it clear that we not forget how this whole thing had come about. We needed to remember that it was Nicole that had made Edward do all those things.

"I guess you're right Bella. I was so angry when we left. I said some truly dreadful things to him. And that kick, I just hope that when all this is sorted out, he won't be too mad about the hole in his wall." There was a soft snigger from Jasper as he started the car and sped out of the garage.

We travelled the rest of the way in silence. Each of us too caught up in our own thoughts to try and make conversation. The tension building inside me tripled as we crossed the border into Forks. The weight that seemed to follow me everywhere, pressed down on my chest. I could feel Jasper trying to regulate the feelings churning in me, but they seemed to bounce of me. He looked at me curiously in the review mirror. I raised my eyebrows at him to indicate that I had no idea why his ability was not working on me.

We were almost at the Cullen's home. The tension was now actually causing me physical pain. Jasper's eyes kept darting to mine. "Please stop the car" I managed to wheeze out through the pain that was crushing my lungs like a vice grip. "What's wrong Bella? We're almost there, just hang on for a couple of minutes" Alice had turned in her seat, confusion and concern clear on her face. I ignored her. "Jasper please! Just let me out of this car." Jasper looked at Alice, who nodded her head slightly. He slammed on the brakes and pulled the car to the side of the road.

I scrambled to get out of the car. Once out, I turned to my friends. "I just need to get some air and clear my head before seeing him and … her. I will be at your house in an hour, I promise" The words stumbled from my mouth, making me sound slightly incoherent. Before either of them could utter a response or protest, I took off for the trees.

This was the first time that I allowed myself to run at full speed. It amazed me that I was not afraid of tripping over things or running into trees. I could now see why all the Cullens had enjoyed it so much. It had a certain liberating quality to it. To feel unrestrained, powerful. The air rushing through your hair.

I had no idea how long I had been running for, nor did I know how far I had run. I stopped to listen to the sounds around me. I heard the soft bubbling of a stream, that to my new vampire hearing, sounded like a symphony of gurgles and tinkling. I was drawn to the sound. I made my way over to the stream and sat on a large flat rock. Impulsively, I took off the sneakers and sock I was wearing and slipped my feet into the water. It was cold. It must have been icy for my skin to even register the temperature. There was no moon visible, just the stars that sparkled in the night sky. I was suddenly reminded of Timon from the Lion King's theory as to how the stars wound up in the sky. I couldn't help myself from letting out a soft chuckle.

Suddenly all my senses zeroed in on the almost imperceptible sound of the muffled snapping of a twig under something or someone's foot. I turned my head in the direction of the sound and let out a low warning growl. Something caught my attention in my peripheral vision. In a split second, I was thrown against a tree, the impact eliciting a loud crack from the trunk. Before I could be attacked again, I was on my feet, facing whoever it was that was intent on causing me harm. A shadow darted from behind a tree. It moved so swiftly, that even with my vampire vision, I could not quite make out what my attacker looked like. Before I could respond with any sort of defensive measures, I saw two milky white arms lunge for my throat.

The hands seem to hit some sort of invisible wall inches from my face. My incredulous eyes travelled up the length of the arms to the face of the body that owned them.

"Edward?"


	10. Shattered

**Chapter 10**

**Shattered.**

"Edward?" I stuttered out. Anger was pouring off him and I felt like I was being swamped with it.

"What are you doing?" I couldn't quite comprehend why he had attacked me and was now looking at me with such intense dislike.

"Why have you come back?" he grated out between tightly clenched jaws. The question ripped at my heart.

"I came back for you" was all I said. Might as well let him know now why I was here. He would eventually have found out any way. He stepped away, but continued to stare down at me. I sucked in a deep breath as my personal space was restored. The slight buzzing in my head seemed to stop the second he moved away. Strange, but I didn't have time to dwell on it.

"You really are a sucker for punishment, aren't you?" he laughed at me. I refused to let his comment hurt me, but it did. "I told you that I do not love you. What is so difficult about that to understand?" his usually soft and velvety voice was laced with sarcasm and came out in a guttural growl.

"The part about you not loving me" was all I said. A look of fury swiftly covered his face. He obviously hadn't like the answer to his question. "It just seemed strange that you were ready to spend the rest of eternity with me, a decision that was not easily made on your part, to saying that you are more in love with someone you had just met. A little extreme don't you think?" I was trying to speak gently, hoping to find some sort of chink in the wall that surrounded him, but I could feel my own anger at his callousness rising in my chest.

"It's quite simple Bella. I found something that was more valuable to me than what you and I had. Nicole and I were meant to be together. What we had was good, but multiply that by infinity and it does not even begin to describe the feelings Nicole incites within me"

I felt my body start shaking and prepared myself for the pain that I was sure would follow. Edward's eyes snapped back to my face. His eyes widened into saucers. Instead of the agony I was expecting, fury swept through me. It made me burn. For some reason the clearing around me seemed to shimmer with a silvery light. I remembered there was no moon out, so that could not explain the light that illuminated the area. I was too angry to try and figure out what was happening.

"You listen to me Edward Cullen" My voice was dangerously low. So low that it surprised me that I could sound so menacing.

"I was ready to give up everything for you. I risked my life every day to be with you. But I did not once ever think that there could be anything better out there for me. I knew then, as I still know, that what you and I shared, was true love, the type of love that people spend their whole lives searching for. We were so lucky to find it and allow it to grow despite the odds that were against us." My voice carried clearly to him, but I could feel a lump forming in my throat. The burning sensation continued through me, it seemed to be intensifying.

"Then, you rip my world out from under me and tell me that what you felt for me pales in significance to what you feel for that woman. That all the sacrifices and risks we took to be together meant nothing to you. That, Edward, is almost unforgivable."

He just continued to stare at me, not uttering a word in defence or apology. "There are things going on around you, that you are not even aware of, things that would make you understand why you are feeling the way you do now…" I did not get a chance to finish my sentence. I saw a movement in the trees next to me and saw a figure step out. Edward shifted slightly. It was her. Nicole. She and Edward were staring at each other. My insides felt like they were being sliced by a thousand scalpels, to see him look at her like that almost broke me.

I was rapidly being consumed by anger, jealously and hatred, that my insides twisted and pulled. The intensity of the feelings boiling inside my body scared me. This is not how I had envisioned our confrontation. No where in my mind, had I thought of the possibility of coming face to face with her in a situation as bizarre as this.

"Edward, let's go home" her smooth voice lilted like melted butter. She glided to his side and wrapped her arms around him. My cold, dead heart lurched pathetically. I felt sick to my stomach. Edward's eyes seemed to glaze over as he turned to whisper a kiss across her lips. A sight I thought I would never witness happened right in front of me. Edward kissed someone else. It was not just a kiss. To me it was a soul destroying, gut wrenching, dream shattering reminder of what was no longer mine.

"You bitch" I growled bitterly, my body shaking so badly, my teeth gnashed against each other. My body crouched low involuntarily. For a moment I thought Jasper was in the clearing, because I had the same sensation build against me that I had felt in the car earlier. I whipped my head around, scanning the clearing. There was no one else there.

I faced the couple in front of me again. Edward was also crouched, his teeth bared. Venom was glistening in the eerie silver light that I had forgotten encompassed us. Both of us were growling. The sounds ripped from our throats. Nicole stepped back and smiled down at me. A look off triumph and malice oozed from every pore of her beautiful face.

"Take it back" Edward snarled at me. His body tensed, ready for a fight.

"Never!" I growled at him. My body prepared itself to fight back. In that instant, he leapt at me. I let out a fierce roar and launched myself at him as well. The feelings of love and tenderness that were still alive in me were smothered by my instinct to protect myself.

Somewhere in mid air we collided. Actually, Edward collided with that weird invisible shield that had protected me from him earlier. He was thrown backwards. This time it was him that crashed into a tree, snapping the massive old giant in half. He rose slowly and unsteadily to his feet. He raised his eyes. They were full of surprise, as well as a hint of fear.

I crouched low, ready to charge at him again. All the pain and hurt that had been festering within me over the last few weeks, clawed and scratched its way to the surface. The light that had been present in the forest intensified. It seemed to fold in on itself as it shimmered and sparkled. My focus sharpened as I saw Edward raise his hands to shield his eyes from the sheer intensity of the light.

All my muscles coiled. A vicious, animalistic roar exploded from my chest. I would finish this now. Then it was her turn and she would not have the privilege of a quick and painless end. She would suffer, for a long, long time.

"Bella!" A voice broke through the cloak of soul rotting emotions that cloaked me and struck me right to the core of my being. I turned slowly to see Carlisle standing a few feet away from me looking at me with huge eyes. I could feel the panic and desperation that radiated from him.

What was I just about to do? I was preparing myself to kill Edward. I was going to rip apart the love of my life. What had happened to me? I sank to the ground, suddenly feeling completely drained and incredibly exhausted. But most of all, I felt disgusted. I was repulsed by the monster that I had become, a monster that I had had very little control over those last few moments. A low keening wail forced its way past my lips.

A pair of arms wrapped around me. Alice's scent helped to calm me down slightly. I slowly tilted my head towards her face and looked into her eyes.

"Oh my God! Her eyes look as if they're swimming in mercury!" I heard Rosalie exclaim at the exact moment that a gasp escaped Alice's mouth.

**AN) The reviews are coming at an incredibly slow pace. Please please please review this chapter. I'm getting quite despondent about whether people are enjoying where it's going or not. Any suggestion or critique would be greatly appreciated. Anyone have any idea yet what Bella's power might be? You won't believe how tempted I was to let her hurt Edward a bit more ******


	11. One Brief Moment

Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**One Brief Moment**

Emmett cradled me to his chest as he carried me up the stairs to Carlisle's study. I was trying so hard to focus on my breathing that I only noticed where I was once Emmett placed me gently onto a sofa by a window in the study. I looked around bewildered. I couldn't remember Emmett even being in the forest. I had heard Rosalie's voice, and Alice's. I had seen Carlisle. The look that he had had on his face would forever be engraved in my memory.

I shuddered. I had tried to kill Edward. On some instinctual, animalistic level, I was ready to kill him. All reasonable thought or logic had been displaced by a surge of violence that even now, caused my body to tremble. Where had it all come from? Even as a human I had never felt any inclination towards violence. In fact, I had always shied away from it. It scared me to think that I was now capable of such thoughtless anger, such rage that rampaged through my mind and body, beyond my control.

I looked up as I heard the door open. Carlisle cast me a brief uncomfortable smile that made me feel even worse about myself than I already was

"How are you feeling Bella?" his voice was gentle and soothing.

"Better" was all I managed. He merely nodded at that and cast a glance at Emmett, who was still hovering over my shoulder. I was not quite certain if it was out of concern for me, or if it was a protective measure to stop me from going after Edward again. Emmett looked down at me briefly and the emotion I saw in his eyes lifted my spirits. He smiled a genuinely warm smile at me, before heading out the door.

Carlisle waited a few moments, looking intently at me the whole time. I knew that he was not waiting for Emmett to get out of hearing range, because with their sense of hearing, the entire family would be able to hear our conversation from anywhere in the house. He was probably using that time to gather his thoughts and decide how to proceed.

"When Alice told us of her vision before she left for Italy, never in my wildest dreams, did I think that this would be the outcome" While he spoke, he held my gaze directly.

I dropped my head in shame. I had never meant to be a disappointment to Carlisle. I had so desperately wanted to become a member of his family, that once I heard about the plans that the Santorini had for those that I loved so dearly, there was no option but to come back and fight for them.

"I'm sorry Carlisle. Please believe me when I say that I had no intention of coming back here to hurt anyone. I don't know what happened. It was like I was just consumed with this need for vengeance, to lash out." My eyes beseeched him to understand what had happened.

"I do believe you Bella, but the power that I witnessed rolling off you, frightens me." I stared at him as he finished the sentence. I was completely dumbstruck.

"What do you mean witnessed it?" I was floundering around in a sea of confusion and uncertainty for the umpteenth time in only a few days.

"Does that mean that you were not aware of what was going on around you Bella?" he asked such a simple question, but one that I was not sure how to answer.

"I remember looking at Edward, with her" that hurt me to say "and all of a sudden, I was overwhelmed by this intense need to hurt him. This incredibly potent sense of rage consumed me." I looked down at the floor while speaking. I could not bring myself to look up at Carlisle. I did not want to see a look of disappointment filter through his facial features. I couldn't bear it.

"What about the aura that surrounded you Bella?" He may as well have spoken in Greek, because it probably would have made more sense than what he had just said to me.

"Huh" was the only eloquent response I could muster.

"Bella, there was a light surrounding you. I can't really call the colour white, because it was more a silvery, iridescent pulse of light that swirled around you. The angrier you got, the brighter the light got. I don't know what would have happened if I had not been able to get through to you. Although I do have a feeling that it was like a charge that was building and it would have had to be released at some point." Carlisle had now moved to the window and was staring out into the night while he spoke.

The words that had just left his mouth caused me to start panicking. That glow that I had been distantly aware of in the meadow, had been a part of me. I was the one that was causing it. But what could it possible mean? Was that my power? That now, instead of blushing when I got angry or embarrassed, I glowed like a fire fly.

Carlisle must have been watching for my reaction, he had turned towards me and was looking at me intently.

"I can safely assume that you are not aware what the reason for that light was, or how it works?"

I filled him in on my theory about my new blushing technique. I was surprised when he laughed out loud. The sound of his beautiful laughter, helped quell the queasy feeling in my stomach. I was suddenly distracted by a conversation occurring between Edward and Alice.

"What were you thinking bringing _her_ here Alice?" I could hear Edward's sneer from somewhere in the house. He did not sound pleased. Granted, I wouldn't either, had someone just tried to dispatch me forever. Hold on, someone had, he had!

"I was bringing my friend home Edward." Alice's venomous retort was easy to hear.

"I'm sure you would've been thrilled if she had got it right and killed me" His tone was deadly, each word clearly enunciated.

"I did warn you what would happen when I got back Edward. The way I see it, Bella almost did me a huge favour" She let out a sinister chuckle that sounded ugly and distorted coming from Alice's mouth.

"I still can't understand why she has to be here. How do you think Nicole feels having her around?" Edward's voice had dropped. I realized what he was doing. He was trying to appeal to Alice's softer side. I had been on the receiving end of that tone countless times before, when Edward wanted me to see his side of an argument.

"To be honest Edward, I couldn't care less how she feels. It's not like you took Bella's feelings into consideration when you left her a week before your wedding for someone else" Alice's response was so matter-of-fact, that I couldn't help but smile at my friend's tenacity in her loyalty to me.

"You are being totally unreasonable!" Edward had raised his voice again.

There was suddenly a vicious growl, followed by a loud crash. The only reason for it that I could come up with was that Edward had taken exception to Alice's thoughts. It hurt to know that Edward and Alice were arguing. Alice had been closer to Edward than any other member of his family, everyone except Carlisle.

With that, there was a soft cough from said vampire. "Sorry" I mumbled. Embarrassed at being caught eavesdropping, I looked at his feet, trying to avoid his face.

"Bella, there are many things that we need to discuss tonight." Carlisle did not get to elaborate on this. The door to the study was thrown open with such force the hinges groaned in protest.

Edward stood in the doorway, to say that he looked upset, would have been the understatement of the century. I felt a tingle of fear shimmy down my spine. The buzzing returned to my head and the glowing appeared again. I looked down at my hand. The shimmering silver light seemed to encase it. I was as mesmerized with it as I had been the first time I had seen sunlight dance off my skin. It was so pretty. Swirling and twisting like a luminous mist.

"I want to speak to her" he motioned towards me with a stiff jerk of his head. "Alone" he barked at Carlisle.

"Edward, you are very upset, I don't think it would be wise to attempt this now. Things are very volatile" Carlisle looked at Edward, his voice placating, but thick with implication. They stared at one another for a long while. Carlisle no doubt, arguing his point across in his mind.

Edward stared at him dispassionately. "Regardless, I want to speak to her. Please Carlisle. I will try to remain calm" he growled through clenched jaws. I stared between the two incredibly good looking vampires. Carlisle nodded his head infinitesimally at Edward. He cast a quick reassuring glance at me before he left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Where is she?" I could have bit my tongue off. This was my opportunity to try and reach him and I start it off by saying something incredibly stupid. Typical!

"Rosalie and Esme had to literally drag her from the house to go hunting. She is understandably quite upset." He ground out at me. I felt my anger rising again. She was upset? What about me? Did I truly mean so little to him that how I was feeling wasn't even a blip on his radar? Despite the anger, a small flame of hope leapt joyously. If she was not in the house, it meant that I might have a few minutes to see how deeply her power had affected him.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to reign in the emotions that were running rampant within me. I was grateful that Edward could not read my mind. The way it was whizzing at the moment they would probably have given him vertigo.

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier" That was a good place to start. If I apologised, it would likely calm him somewhat. "I was just surprised about the attack" I tried my best, but couldn't keep the accusatory tone out of my voice. Edward picked it up immediately. His eyes snapped to mine. For the first time tonight, he looked deeply into my eyes.

"Your eyes?" he sounded completely confounded.

I smiled sheepishly at him. His intense gaze dazzled me. My mind guzzled in the sight of him, like a desert flower during a rain storm. He was so beautiful.

I was so busy ogling him, that I have forgotten he had asked me a question. I was snapped back to reality by an impatient huff. "I don't quite know what the reason is behind them. I was hoping that Carlisle might be able to uncover their significance." I told him honestly.

"Is that why you came back Bella?" My breath caught as he said my name. It seemed like forever since he had said my name. If my heart was still beating, it would probably be jumping around all over the place.

"Part of the reason" I admitted honestly. He raised his eyebrows at me, indicating for me to tell him the rest of the reason.

"I am here to fight for you. To somehow win you back" I couldn't look at him as I whispered the words. Afraid of the rejection I would see in his eyes, rejection that I was steeling myself against feeling.

"Bella, I am so sorry for hurting you. If there was any way that I could take it back I would. But, I can't deny what I feel for Nicole. It would not have been fair for any of us, for you and I to stay together out of principle. I would never have been happy" His voice was so gentle, a huge lump formed in my throat. It felt like I would choke on it.

"Why did you want to hurt me in the forest?" I needed to know what had caused him to attack me unprovoked.

"To be honest, I don't quite know. I remember running through the trees when I caught your scent. Something was triggered in my mind, but before I could figure out what it was, I was consumed by a rage more intense than I had ever felt before. I didn't stop to think about what I was doing. I only realized what I had done once you had flung me into the tree" his face had softened. This was the opportunity I had been waiting for.

In one movement I was at his side. I tentatively raised my hand to his cheek. He stared intently at me, a million emotions flittering across his face. Before he could move, I brushed my fingertips across his cheek.

I was not prepared for the response that my touch elicited in him or myself for that matter. His eyes seemed to turn molten. The glow that surrounded me that had subdued to a light haze, flared up. It grew incredibly bright, but the difference this time was that it changed in colour. It ranged from baby blue, to a soft golden yellow. My entire body was drenched with feelings of contentment. The air around us buzzed with the same electric intensity that coursed between my fingers and his skin.

I don't know how long we stood and stared at each other for. We seemed to be cloaked in our own private little world that shimmered with a dream like quality.

"Bella?" Edward's voice sounded uncertain. He brushed his hand lightly up my arm and cupped my neck. Every cell in my body reacted to his touch. They seemed to vibrate with the intensity I felt. I continued to stare into his eyes, hoping that this was enough to bring him back, to unlock him from whatever place Nicole had cast him. He lowered his head toward me, his eyes locked on my lips. I stopped breathing. This was more than I had dared hope for. I closed my eyes in anticipation of his lips softly brushing against mine.

Edward jerked himself roughly away from me. He stared at me. He looked disorientated and unsure. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, I moaned. The guarded look was back. "I don't know what you are trying to do. But I want you to stay away from me!" He spat the words at me. I felt my knees buckle. I refused to let him see me collapse. He turned on his heel and stormed out the study. This time he ripped the door clean off his hinges in his haste to get away from me. Once he was out of sight, I fell to the ground, huge dry sobs wracking my body in paroxysms of agony.

I had been prepared on some level about possible rejection. But after the last few minutes, when all the walls had been lifted and I had glimpsed and felt what had once been ours, nothing had been able to prepare me for the loss I would feel. It was like being offered a life line, then watching it being pulled away again.

"I'm so sorry Bella" I rolled to my side to see Alice looking down at me. Her face was so filled with sadness that it caused the sobs to magnify. She sat down next to me and rubbed in a gentle circular pattern that was oddly comforting.

"I tried to get them to keep her in the forest for as long as possible, but I think she's starting to get to them. They eventually gave into her incessant whining and brought her home" Alice and I looked deeply into one another's eyes. This was not going to be an easy task. But tonight had shown me that the Edward I loved was still there and that he was within reach. I knew that Nicole was now going to be even more weary, and would no doubt make sure that Edward and I were never alone together.

I was too tired to try and develop some sort of strategy now. I had the memory of those few precious moments that Edward and I had just shared as an incentive to keep trying, no matter how hopeless the situation seemed to become.

**AN) Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, you guys really made my day! **

**To my reviewer that said my chapters are too short, I hope the length of this one will meet your approval. But also, I want you to note that the first chapter is nearly 5000 words long and if I remember correctly, has no reviews, so I don't think it's the length of a chapter that determines its reviews.**

**The next chapter is in Edwards POV, so I'm sure you'll all be excited to read it. I must just tell you that I am a teacher and therefore do not have as much time available to me as I would like to have to ensure that I update regularly, so please bear with me.**

**Last thing, I'm South African, so if my grammar and spelling, or use of your measuring system is a bit off, please forgive me!**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Lotsa love!**


	12. Conflict

Chapter 12

Conflict

EPOV

I stalked up the porch steps, Nicole trailing closely behind me. Anger seethed through my body, constricting my chest painfully. My mind was racing as it rehashed the last twenty minutes.

I had been sitting in the living room, reading. Nicole was upstairs in our room listening to music. She needed to relax she had told me when I insisted on staying with her. Alice and Jasper arrived home from their mission of mercy to save _her_. As they entered the house, they had both darted a quick defensive glance in my direction before heading for the stairs. I tried to read their thoughts, but Alice was effectively blocking me by reciting the poem the Wasteland and Jasper's mind was whizzing around ancient Roman battle plans and strategy. They were hiding something from me and the thought alone, caused my temper to flare.

"What? No update about your little road trip?" I called sarcastically to their retreating backs. I was irritated about something but I couldn't quite understand what.

Alice turned slowly to face me from her position at the top of the first landing. Her eyes bore into me. It struck me again how it hurt to have her look at me that way. Over the last few days that she had been away, I had secretly harboured the hope that once she returned we would be able to make peace. But the look she threw at me dashed those hopes. Alice turned to look at Jasper for a brief moment. He simply nodded his head and disappeared towards the general direction of their room. She slowly walked down the steps and did not utter a word until she stood a few feet from me.

_What Edward? Why would you possibly care about what happened while we were in Italy? You made your view of the subject perfectly clear the last time we spoke. _Her thoughts were laced with bitterness, but sadness was evident in her eyes. I wasn't quite sure why I wanted to know what had happened. There was just something in me that needed to know. I tried to hide that specific need in a tone that conveyed sarcasm and boredom.

"Do you want to know that I was the one that had to change her?" Alice's voice was soft, but deadly. _Do you care that it broke her heart that it wasn't you? Do you care that even though it was me that changed her, she was still glad that somehow, on some strange, twisted plain, that she would still belong to this family? Do you care that she suffered in silence, all of it, only whispering your name? _Alice was staring intently into my eyes. Each and every word, thought clearly, slowly as if she was hoping for them to make an impact. The scary thing was that they did.

My stomach twisted for some obscure reason and for a second, I was able to comprehend the reason for it. Someone else had changed her. A brief flame of jealousy ignited in the pit of my gut, but was quickly smothered by the thought that she had still wanted to belong to me. A sense of elation washed over me. It was pure and beautiful and her face floated through my mind. My body was saturated with an emotion that I had not felt in a long time.

Alice stood quietly and watched the emotions race across my face, a small smirk lifting the corners of her mouth. _And you said you didn't care. Ha! The look you have on your face right now, says otherwise!_ A glitter of humour lit her eyes. It was something that I had missed terribly. For a second, I felt the kinship that Alice and I had always shared and I was relieved to have it back.

"Where is she, Alice?" I asked in a small, yet desperate voice.

_She got out of the car about 4 miles from here. I'm sure you wil__l be able to pick up her scent. It is still the same, just not as intense. _Alice's eyes were shining with joy, her hands clasped tightly to her chest. I was sure that she would start bouncing on the spot shortly. I did not wait to see if I was right, but raced out the door.

A million things hurled through my mind. All the terrible things that I had done to Bella, all the hurt and rejection I had heaped on her. How could I ever begin to make it right? I was racing down the road, just inside the tree line, when I picked up her scent. It hit me like an iron fist to the stomach. My heart wrenched at the thought of the hell I had put her through. I had to make it right. I had to tell her that I was a fool for ever considering I could love anyone else more than I loved her.

I followed her scent until I came to a small stream. I slowed down in fear of alarming her. What I saw brought me to a complete halt. Bella. She was seated on a rock, dangling her feet in the water, her movements creating soft swishing sounds that added the melody the water was already singing. Her face had always been beautiful but now, now it was breathtaking. I slowly took a step forward drawn to her as a moth to a flame.

As my foot hit the ground, I was engulfed in a wave of anger, fury and hatred so intense, it almost made me wretch. These horrifying emotions, channelled through my body. The monster inside me awoke. My eyes sharpened and I crouched low. She was my enemy. I needed to destroy her. My muscles coiled as my body readied itself for the attack. She must have sensed my presence, as she had angled her body towards my position and let out a low warning growl. It incited the monster in me to lunge at her.

I leapt forward, the momentum carrying me to within two feet of her. I drove my fist into her chest; the force behind it was incredible. Her body was thrown through the air and it crashed into a tree, with a thunderous crash. She was on her feet before her body had made contact with the ground. I lunged for her throat, intent on ripping it out, before tearing her to pieces.

As my hands were about to make contact with her skin, they struck some sort of invisible wall. I watched as her eyes travelled up the length of my arms. My name escaped her lips incredulously. Her face was hidden in shadow, yet I could still see the hurt stamped on her features.

The monster within me hissed and clawed at being denied its prey.

"What are you doing?" Her soft smooth-as-chocolate voice was laden with confusion.

"Why have you come back?" I could barely get the words out. The anger and hatred that were coursing through me made it feel like my jaws had been wired shut. "I came back for you" her soft reply jolted me for a brief instance. I felt myself soften at her statement, said so simply, so honestly, so like her. The feeling did not last long, before it was replaced by the need to crush her, to hurt her.

"You really are a sucker for punishment, aren't you?" I laughed sinisterly at her, mocking her. Goading her into giving me another opportunity to attack. "I told you that I do not love you. What is so difficult about that to understand?" rubbing salt into her wounds, watching her eyes widen in pain. Along with the thrill of satisfaction I felt, there was a tiny sense of shame that had rooted itself in my chest.

"The part about you not loving me" she said, a trace of anger blossoming in her voice. Another breath of fury leapt through me. "It just seemed strange that you were ready to spend the rest of eternity with me, a decision that was not easily made on your part, to saying that you are more in love with someone you had just met. A little extreme don't you think?" she stated it so matter-of-factly, that it grated at my already tattered nerves.

"It's quite simple Bella. I found something that was more valuable to me than what you and I had. Nicole and I were meant to be together. What we had was good, but multiply that by infinity and it does not even begin to describe the feelings Nicole incites within me" I heard myself say the words, but had no conscious recollection of uttering them. Despite the tumultuous slew of emotions I was feeling, I felt a sharp pain lance through my chest.

It was quiet in the clearing for a brief second. I watched her face, waiting for the wounded look I expected. Instead, her skin began to glow. A haze like aura lifted from her skin and drifted around us. Her body visibly started shaking as the intensity as the light around her grew.

"You listen to me Edward Cullen" she growled dangerously. "I was ready to give up everything for you. I risked my life every day to be with you. But I did not once ever think that there could be anything better out there for me. I knew then, as I still know, that what you and I shared, was true love, the type of love that people spend their whole lives searching for. We were so lucky to find it and allow it to grow despite the odds that were against us." Her voice had gone from dangerous to pleading in a mere moment, I was perplexed at her rapidly changing emotions, because as they changed, the glow that enveloped her either dimmed or brightened.

I did not have the time to utter an acidic reply, before she continued. "Then, you rip my world out from under me and tell me that what you felt for me pales in significance to what you feel for that woman. That all the sacrifices and risks we took to be together meant nothing to you. That, Edward, is almost unforgivable." Her voice had gone back to being low and with it, the intensity of the glow around her increased. She was quiet, as if waiting for me to respond. I just couldn't find one any where within me. She looked at me squarely, sucking in a deep breath. "There are things going on around you, that you are not even aware of, things that would make you understand why you are feeling the way you do now…" she didn't finish her sentence. Her head swivelled to the side. I followed the path of her gaze, and watched as Nicole's silhouette separated itself from the trees.

My body tensed, as if given some invisible signal. Nicole stared at me from across the space that separated us; her eyes seemed to hypnotize me. "Edward, let's go home" Nicole spoke softly, holding my gaze.

"You bitch" Bella rasped through clenched jaws. Tremors of fury shook her body. She crouched low, the mist around her swirled and coiled, brightening fiercely. My body snapped awake, the monster that had seemed to settle slightly, stirring again. I couched in front of Nicole, my back to her, baring my teeth at the vampire a few feet in front of me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Nicole throw a spiteful smile at Bella. It irritated me for a split second, but was quickly smothered by the same feeling of hate and rage that I had experienced earlier, course through my body. It seemed as if the logical and reasonable part of my brain had switched of and the fierce, animalistic side had taken over.

"Take it back" I spat at Bella

"Never!" she snarled back. As the word left her mouth, I sprang at her. She launched herself at the exact, same moment. We hurtled toward each other. Every thing seemed to slow down and take on a dream like quality. The glow around Bella was more intense than it had been throughout this brief encounter. I braced myself for the impact of our bodies, extending my arms to rip and tear at her. The impact never came. I did not have the change to lay a finger on Bella.

Somewhere in mid-air, I hit the same invisible shield that had protected Bella earlier. This time however, as I touched against it, it released a pulse of energy that threw me across the small clearing and into a large tree. The tree snapped as I hit it. The sheer intensity of the impact had stunned me. I took longer to get to my feet than I normally would have.

Once I had found my feet, I looked up at Bella. She was still in an attack position. Her eyes fixed on me in a frighteningly predatory way. I felt a small tingle of fear run up my spine. The light around her blazed fiercely and the air hummed with its intensity. She was going to attack again. With the shield that she had protecting her body, there was little I could do to protect myself.

As she tensed in readiness to spring, I heard Carlisle's voice. He called her name sharply. It took a second for her to comprehend who had called her, but when she did, her body crumpled to the floor. Alice rushed to her side. I stood in place, relief washing through me. I was certain that if my family had not arrived, Bella would have torn me limb from limb. I watched as Alice wrapped her thin little arms around Bella's sobbing body. The glow had faded to a faint shimmer on her skin. I felt oddly numb staring at the scene in front of me. Bella raised her face to Alice. "Oh my God! Her eyes look as if they're swimming in mercury!" Rosalie exclaimed from somewhere behind them.

I did not have time to see what she was talking about. Nicole came up to me and took my hand. She tugged me roughly and before I knew it, we were running through the forest towards the house.

That had all happened in twenty minutes. Now, my family was somewhere in the forest, comforting the one who had just tried to kill me. Anger and bitterness drenched me in their wicked stench. Nicole caught up to me. I was expecting some sort of comfort from her, but she merely patted my hand and headed up to our room. I followed her for lack of anywhere else to go.

I walked through to the living room and saw Esme seated on a sofa, a worried look covering her face.

"Oh Edward! I'm so glad your back. We were so worried when Alice's vision of you and Bella disappeared! Where is she? Is she ok?" the words streamed out of my mother's mouth. "We are both fine for now. I would like it if we did not discuss this now." I ground out; the tatters of my patience fraying even more. The look of hurt on her face, made me feel ashamed. "I'm sorry Esme; please just wait until the others get home. I'm sure they can fill you in." I made an effort to be gentle. "Could I ask a favour of you?" I looked at her expectantly. "Of course" she agreed immediately.

"Could you please get Nicole out of the house for a while? I think there are going to be a few more confrontations tonight and rampaging emotions that I would prefer her not to witness. Take Rosalie with you, that would be one more volatile personality out of the equation, at least until things are slightly more settled" I said the last few words in a rush, impatient to get out of the room, before the others got back.

"I will do ask you ask Edward, but can I ask you something?" she looked up at me, pleading clear in her eyes.

I nodded slowly. "I'm not going to ask you again about what transpired in the woods tonight, but please, if you need to talk, just remember that I am here" she laid her hand gently against my cheek and smiled sadly. "Thank you Esme" I whispered. I stepped back from here and raced up the stairs.

I did not want to be downstairs when they all got back. I paced up and down my bedroom. Nicole's eyes following me, but she said nothing. It irritated me for some reason. I decided to go and have a shower, perhaps on its hottest setting, it might do something to relieve the tension I could feel radiating off me.

I stalked towards the bathroom and ripped my clothes from my body. I turned the shower on to its highest, hottest setting and stepped under the jets of water. I let the water cascade over my head and shoulders, drowning out the thoughts of my family as they entered the house downstairs, their minds whirling with possible reasons for what had just occurred in the forest. I focused on a piece of music I had been working on for the last couple of days, working through the notes and melodies in my mind.

I lost track of time and was gradually brought back to the present by the realization that the hot water had obviously run out. I turned off the shower and stepped out. I wrapped a towel around my body and wiped the condensation off the mirror. I started at the reflection glaring back at me from the mirror. The eyes looked as if they belonged to a stranger. I wrenched my eyes away from the disturbing image and stepped into my room. Nicole was not there. Esme must have collected her. A strange sense of relief washed through me, a feeling that I could not explain. I dressed quickly and headed down stairs. I might as well get past this episode.

As I reached the bottom step, I saw Alice leasing against the archway that led into the living room. She was staring directly at me as if she had been waiting for me. My thoughts were confirmed by hers.

_I thought you'd never come out of hiding. _Her thoughts were again acidic. So much for the ground we had recovered earlier. "What were you thinking bringing _her_ here Alice?" I could not keep the bitterness from my voice. If Alice had left well enough alone, we would not have been in this predicament.

"I was bringing my friend home Edward." Alice's venomous retort rang clearly.

"I'm sure you would've been thrilled if she had got it right and killed me" My reply was equally nasty. It stung that she could be so spiteful

"I did warn you what would happen when I got back Edward. The way I see it, Bella almost did me a huge favour" she laughed menacingly in reference to the 'discussion' we had had before she left for Italy.

"I still can't understand why she has to be here. How do you think Nicole feels having her around?" I dropped my voice. Perhaps if I changed my approach, it would be more effective. If I was softer, maybe she would be more pliable and willing to listen to my side of the argument.

"To be honest Edward, I couldn't care less how she feels. It's not like you took Bella's feelings into consideration when you left her a week before your wedding for someone else" Alice's retort shot my plan right out of the water.

"You are being totally unreasonable!" My temper was flaring and I grappled with it to keep it under control.

_I'm being unreasonable? Ha! __Edward that is the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard. I'm not the one that seems to have undergone a lobotomy. You are a totally different person. You are unreasonable, delusional and 'apparently' in love with a psychopath. And as far as what I should care about, the only thing I care about is this family. Bella is included in that family. The bimbo that you have had masquerading around this house has nothing on Bella. She's not fit to even be mentioned in the same sentence! _Alice's thoughts spewed venom.

The last few strands of control that held my anger in check snapped. I slammed my fist down on to the solid maple drawing board, splintering the wood into a thousand fragmented pieces. Alice stared at me wide eyed. I did not often resort to destroying things out of anger, but when I did, it was a good indication of the magnitude of that anger. I had to do something about this situation. I couldn't just leave and hope that things blow over. I had to talk to _her. _Maybe I could talk some sense into a very unstable situation. Perhaps I could persuade her that this wasn't the right place for her to be, that maybe she would be happier living elsewhere. Now would be the perfect time with Nicole out of the house. That irritating niggling feeling was back and it annoyed the hell out of me.

With the decision made, I listened quietly for the sound of voices. I could hear Carlisle addressing her in his study and headed in that direction. As I strode towards the study, my anger began to increase gradually. Why should I have to feel uncomfortable in my own house? I shouldn't even have had to be in this situation in the first place. I had reached the study and threw the doors open with more force than I had intended. Carlisle shot me a quick look of disapproval.

"I want to speak to her" I informed Carlisle, indicating towards her with a flick of my head. "Edward, you are very upset, I don't think it would be wise to attempt this now. Things are very volatile" Carlisle looked at me, his voice gentle, but carried across more than his words. _I think you should wait until you have both calmed down. You saw what happened in the forest when Bella got upset. _I cringed mentally and the memory of how beautiful yet deadly she had looked. _I need more time with her to try and discover more about this ability she possesses and what its effects and limitations are. _His thoughts were pleading with me to give him more time. I needed to get this off my chest and find some sort of resolution.

"Regardless, I want to speak to her. Please Carlisle. I will try to remain calm" I gritted through y teeth. I nodded slightly at him to let him know that I had taken note of his concerns and would be aware of what I said. He turned to smile quickly at her before leaving the room. I took a deep breath before facing the beautiful vampire that sat on the sofa, her tiny form dwarfed by the giant cushions.

"Where is she?" she bit out, her face hostile and guarded. As the words left her mouth, I could see her mentally kick herself. I bristled at her question, but was surprised that it was not to the degree that would have been appropriate.

"Rosalie and Esme had to literally drag her from the house to go hunting. She is understandably quite upset." I threw the words at her, in an attempt to be as vicious as she was. But truth be told, I wasn't exactly aware of hoe Nicole felt about my run in with my 'old flame'. She had barely said anything to me since leaving the woods.

Bella took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm sorry for what happened earlier" her tone was milder, less harsh. "I was just surprised about the attack" She tried to hide it, but it still sounded like an accusation. She looked directly into my eyes and in the light of the study, what I saw, whipped the breath from my lungs.

"Your eyes?" I breathed out.

Her brilliant blue eyes sparkled like polished gems. The colour so deep and intense, it felt like someone could drown in their depths. She smiled a small, whimsical smile at me.

"I don't quite know what the reason is behind them. I was hoping that Carlisle might be able to uncover their significance." She admitted. Dropping her eyes from my scrutiny. She shuffled uncomfortably, staring at the floor.

"Is that why you came back Bella?" As I said her name, my stomach clenched. It felt so right as it rolled off my tongue.

"Part of the reason" she stated simply, lifting her eyes back to mine.

"I am here to fight for you. To somehow win you back" the last words were said so softly, even with my vampire hearing, it was soft. I had to do some damage control. Despite the conflicting emotions that were brewing inside me and the way I had felt earlier this evening, I could not let her get her hopes up. I was with Nicole, she was the one I wanted wasn't she?

"I am so sorry for hurting you. If there was any way that I could take it back I would. But, I can't deny what I feel for Nicole. It would not have been fair for any of us, for you and I to stay together out of principle. I would never have been happy" I was suddenly overwhelmed by an intense need to protect her, to shield her from hurt. Wasn't this the irony of all ironies? An hour ago, I had been prepared to kill her, but now I wanted to protect her from the hurt I was dishing out.

"Why did you want to hurt me in the forest?" Her words were whispered and laced with such pain that it seared me. The least I could do was be honest. After all I had put her through, I owed her that much.

"To be honest, I don't quite know. I remember running through the trees when I caught your scent. Something was triggered in my mind, but before I could figure out what it was, I was consumed by a rage more intense than I had ever felt before. I didn't stop to think about what I was doing. I only realized what I had done once you had flung me into the tree" I stumbled on the last few words as I realised how bizarre those moments had been.

Before I could register any movement, she was at my side. She gingerly raised her palm towards my face. As her fingers touched my skin, a tingle of electricity raced between us.

It was as if the missing puzzle piece had been slotted into place. This was the woman I loved. How could I deny what I felt when she touched me. It was so real, so pure, so beautiful. What I had experienced with Nicole had been intense, but now as I analysed it, it had always seemed like a superfluous surface, one that was hollow underneath. This epiphany shook my entire world. How could I possibly have experienced the emotions today that I had. The complete and utter exchange of feeling between two different women?

It felt as if the haze that had been covering me was lifted. As I stared down into her now blue eyes, everything seemed to make sense. Like all the little facets of life were now in their correct order. The strange mist that had still lingered on her lightly, lit up again. This time however, it seemed to be peaceful, if it could be labelled that. It curled and swirled, the colours dancing across her skin.

We stared into each other's eyes for an immeasurable amount of time.

"Bella?" I said her name involuntarily. It felt as if my body needed to say her name, to sure this moment was real and not some warped dream. My fingers itched to touch her. I gave in and gently brushed my hands up her arms. Her skin was like velvet. I reached her neck and cupped one hand gently around it, using my thumb to angle her jaw upwards. I stared at her softly pouted lips, a hunger that had nothing to do with blood, stirred in me. I slowly dragged my hand away from the gently curve of her neck, wanting my lips to be the only part of me touching her. I wanted the intensity of that touch to be burned into my memory.

_I'm sorry __Bella; I tried to keep her away for longer! _I heard Alice's thoughts wail from downstairs. As if I had been struck by lightning my body jumped away from Bella. Feelings of guilt and shame washed over me. What had I almost done? I was committed to Nicole. Bella had tried to seduce me. That was the only possible explanation for the way I had behaved. It was probably something to do with her ability. Perhaps she could sway others into doing her bidding. The fires of anger and resentment were stoked by the sense of loss I felt at the removal of the emotions that had coursed so freely through me only moments ago.

"I don't know what you are trying to do. But I want you to stay away from me!" I threw the words at her before storming from the room. Of all the emotions that had coursed through me today, confusion was now the most prominent. I had blamed Bella for trying to seduce me. Suspected, that perhaps her ability had tried to seduce me. The problem with that theory however, was what I had felt when Alice and Jasper had returned from Italy. Bella had never been a good liar, and most of what she had said today had been said with blunt honesty. Why then did I keep getting enraged without the slightest provocation? The thoughts were all racing through my mind.

As I opened the door to the bedroom, I was confronted with the sight of Nicole lounging on the bed. A Cheshire cat-like grin spread across her face and for the first time in a month and a half I saw past her facade and all the pieces fell into place.

Oh god! What had I done?

**AN) Okay, that took a really long time to try and get right. It still hasn't come out the way I wanted it to, but I hope you like it nonetheless. **

**Please review and let me know what you think, I have had a really crappy Monday, and some of your much loved reviews, will go a long way in making me feel oodles better!!**

**Let me know what you think is going to happen next, you never know, I could inject a few of your ideas into the story. I need to know what would make it more attractive to you, my most cherished readers.**

**Hope you all had an awesome weekend, Wishing you a wonderful and stress-free week.**

**Lotsa love!**


	13. Alignment

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Alignment.

Last night had probably been one of the most confusing and heartbreaking nights I had ever experienced. My body felt completely deflated. My soul ached. If it were possible, I would more than likely have cried buckets by now. The thought of tears, made me feel even worse. I missed the slight relief that came with tears.

After Edward had stormed out, Alice had gently carried me to the guest room on the first floor and lay me down on the mattress. I felt so insignificant huddled in the centre of the massive bed. Alice had tried to talk to me, to comfort me, but I had felt too numb and shell shocked to respond to any of her questions. She sat with me for a few hours, rubbing small circles on my back as I went from dry sobbing to hiccupping. She had eventually left, stating that I needed some privacy to work through things in my own way.

The house was deathly quiet, as if everyone was afraid of saying something that would be overheard. I was grateful that Alice was so thoughtful. She had brought me to one of the two guestrooms in the Cullen's home, the other being on the second floor across the landing from Edward's room. I don't think I would have been able to handle seeing Nicole in the place that had once been my sanctuary, a place where Edward and I had shared some of the most precious times of my life, a room that held so many memories for me. It would have been the last straw.

Footsteps suddenly caught my attention. They were slow and unsure. It was a gait that I did not recognise. My body tensed involuntarily. The footsteps stopped outside my door. My breath hitched in my throat as I watched the door handle intently, waiting to see if it was being turned. My eyes were drawn to an oblong piece of paper that was slid under the door. I didn't dare move, uncertain as to what was going on. The footsteps slowly receded until they were gently muffled by the thick rugs that covered the floor downstairs.

I slid silently off the bed and crept cautiously towards the door, my eyes darting to the door knob often and from there to the window, which was the only means of escape if I was for some reason attacked. It seemed like and eternity, but I eventually reached the door. I had crawled on my hands and knees. I gingerly stretched out my hand to touch the envelope as if it would burn me. I picked it up and slid back to the direction of the bed. Once seated with my back against the carved wooden leg, I turned the envelope over. What I saw knocked the wind from me.

_Bella _was written across the face of the envelope in Edward's beautiful, flawless handwriting. The nostalgia that it incited within me, made me feel all giddy. I felt like a school girl that had just received a love letter from the boy she had a huge crush on.

My excitement was quashed as the more reasonable Bella came to the forefront of my mind, ready to talk some sense into the ideological, whimsical Bella.

'What if what he has written breaks you?' Reasonable Bella asked. That was beside the point. Something Edward had written, that was addressed to me, lay just within a thin paper sleeve. Regardless of what it said, I needed to find out, whether it hurt to do it or not. Besides, I you couldn't break something that was already so broken.

I slowly opened the envelope and slid the small, folded note out. I took a deep breath before I opened it.

_I don't quite know what is going on, but I need to see you. Meet me in the meadow at midnight. Make sure that NO-ONE knows where you are going. I will be there._

_Edward_

Midnight was a couple of hours away! How was I going to survive waiting that long. My stomach coiled in on itself with apprehension. Edward's behaviour had been so erratic, that I was not quite sure what to expect from him. I didn't know whether to be excited, wary or petrified. All I did know was that I had to make sure that I stayed in my room for a few hours and try not to alert anyone to my leaving the house.

I walked over to the window and opened it as wide as it would go. I studied the distance to the ground, gauging whether I would be able to make the jump without making too much noise on my landing. If I tried to propel myself further away from the base of the house, the ferns that bordered the garden would probably muffle the sound of the landing quite well. I rested my chin on my arms that rested on the window sill and stared out into the darkness, anxiety and giddiness warring with each other in my chest. I took a deep breath and allowed all the scents of the night, to drown my senses.

I don't quite know how long I sat staring out the window, before I heard Alice's voice outside my door.

"Bella? Can I come in?" she spoke softly.

"Yeah" I called over my shoulder as I continued to stare out the window.

"I just wanted to check in on you and see if you were okay or if you needed anything" She spoke while walking across the room. She knelt beside me and rested her head gently on my shoulder. It felt good to have her with me, just to know that I had some sort of support in this crazy world, a friend that literally went to the ends of the earth for me.

"I'm okay Alice, really." I mumbled into her hair.

"You sure you don't need anything? Pedicure? Manicure?" she grinned at me.

"Right now, I could think of nothing worse! I really would have thought that once I was no longer human, your preoccupation with 'Bella-Barbie' would have worn off" I sighed at her.

"You must be kidding right? Do you honestly see Rosalie letting me do her nails?" We both laughed at her statement that was drenched with sarcasm.

"Point taken" I said.

"Are you sure there isn't anything that you need? It can't be too much fun holed up here in this room all night alone" Alice's voice was full of concern and tenderness.

"I really appreciate your thoughtfulness Alice, but I really feel like I need to be by myself right now, I just need to work through everything in my mind" I looked at her apologetically. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her feelings, but I was desperate to be alone when midnight came around.

"It's okay, I understand" she said genuinely as she stood. She laid her hand on my shoulder and said "Just remember that I'm a few doors down if you need anything, even if it's just to talk" Before I could say thanks, she was skipping towards the door gracefully.

The last hour of my wait was both the longest and yet strangely, also the shortest of my life. Eventually, the bedside clock read fifteen minutes to midnight.

I braced myself against the window, praying that no one in the house would hear me. I slipped my legs out the window and rested on the sill. I held onto the outer edges of the window and braced my feet against the wall. Before I lost all courage, I focussed all my energy on propelling myself away from the house and kicked off the wall. To say that the result surprised me was an understatement. I landed at least ten feet further from the house than I had hoped to.

I crouched in the ferns listening intently to whether any of the occupants inside the house had been alerted to my daring escape. There was no sound, everyone was still oddly quiet. All I could hear from inside was the sound of one of Emmett's racing games. Guess that was how Rose managed to keep him still and quiet. I laughed quietly to myself as I leapt up and headed into the forest at a speed that still shocked me.

Edward and I had been to the meadow often before that fateful day all those weeks ago, that it was reasonably easy to remember the way. The entire time that I was running, I refused to wonder what the outcome of this meeting would be. I simply allowed myself to enjoy the sense of freedom and wonderment that came with running through the dark forest at a speed that would wrap a human's stomach around their spine.

As I neared the meadow, I slowed down. Apprehension and nervousness washed over me as I approached. I did not see him in the meadow. A small flicker of doubt flared in my mind. Perhaps I was going crazy. Had I had imagined the note? I had so badly wanted Edward to love me again, that maybe my mind had short circuited and convinced me somehow that it was real. I slipped my hand into my back pocket and felt the folded note. I was not going mad, he really had written it. I looked around me, hardly breathing, straining to hear any sound, smell any scent. There was nothing.

I sat down slowly, folding myself into a small little ball, cradling my knees against my chest. Rejection filled my being. I had become so used to it, that I really shouldn't have felt so deflated, so alone… so miserable.

"I'm glad you came" Edward's voice purred from behind me. I was standing facing him in a split second. He walked slowly towards me and did not stop until his face was mere inches from mine. Had my heart still been beating, it would have exploded out my chest by now.

"Of course I came, you asked me to" I smiled up at him.

"Still, I'm glad you did. If you hadn't, I wouldn't have blamed you, after all I've put you through" I could hardly believe my ears. I had come here tonight unsure of what to expect and he drops a bombshell like that after only a minute. I couldn't stop the happiness that started to bubble within me. My 'aura' lit up again, as it only seemed to do in his presence. The glow was soft and muted and seemed to reflect my emotions.

When I didn't respond, he tugged a hand through his hair before speaking again. "Bella, I don't know what's going on with me, I feel like I've lost control of myself. Like I'm on some strange sort of auto-pilot and I can't figure out how to switch it off." His voice was soft and full of questions that he didn't know how to even begin to answer.

"There is a lot going on around you Edward. Stuff you have absolutely no idea about." I said in reference to the revelation that the Volturi had explained to me. "Things I'm not sure you want to hear" I added, torn between letting the truth spill out of me in the hope that it would make him understand the situation better. The truth I had been so close to revealing to him last night before we both got so angry.

"I'm starting to believe that. Nothing makes sense anymore." He sighed, "Ever since you arrived back, it feels like a screen has been lifted and all the imperfections in this scenario have been highlighted. Imperfections that I had not realised even existed." He stared in to my eyes intently, as if seeking to find the reasons to his confusion. "Could you tell me what is going on Bella? I promise to try and remain calm, no matter what you have to say. I just really need to know." His eyes were pleading with me, I could not refuse him. I could tell him all that I knew and what he did with that information or how he reacted to it would then be his responsibility to deal with.

I kept my eyes locked with his as I started to talk. "While I was in Italy" I tried to ignore the way he winced as I said it, "The Volturi were curious as to why you were not with me. They wanted to know why I would go to them with the request I did, when they were under the impression that you were the one that was going to change me." I took a deep breath and averted my eyes. This was going to be difficult enough to get out, without having to see all his emotions so clearly displayed in his eyes. I looked down at my hands before continuing. "I told them that you had fallen in love with someone else and the only way I could fight for you would be for me to become a vampire, to even the field a bit as I thought of it at the time." There was a soft hiss from Edward, but I refused to look up in case I lost my courage.

"I had not really given myself the time to think about how things would play out once I actually asked them the question. A big part of me had thought that they would more than likely have had me as a late afternoon snack" my attempt at humour fell flat and sounded harsh and macabre. "They were incredibly interested in the fact that you had fallen in love with someone else, especially Marcus. He said that from our previous encounter with them, he had seen the depth of our relationship and it was beyond him how you could possibly have felt more for someone else. He thought that it was an impossibility actually." I chanced a quick look up at his face. I shouldn't have. It was twisted and it broke my heart to see his eyes brimming with pain. I hesitated, not sure whether I should continue or not. He obviously noticed my hesitation.

"Please Bella. I need to hear the rest. I can handle it." He ground out through locked jaws. The tension was rolling off him, but mingled with that was a sense of regret and pain.

"I was so hurt and confused by all that had happened, I had a hard time trying to keep up with everything they were telling me." I choked. I had seen how he had reacted where Nicole was concerned and a large part of me was scared of what would happen once he knew everything. Again he noticed my hesitation.

"Go on" He clipped out.

"Aro told me about another powerful vampire family, the Santorini" I looked at him to see if there was any sign of recognition to the name. His face was carefully composed and did not show any sign as to whether he was familiar with the name or not. Shrugging my shoulders I continued. "He went on to tell me how the Santorini wanted to get the Volturi out of the way in order to become the one and only ruling family in the vampire world. That over the last few decades they had been building a large army in order to start a war with the Volturi. The only reason that Aro and his brothers were alerted to this was that a Santorini spy was captured and revealed the plot to them while Jane used her ability on him." I cringed involuntarily at the thought of Jane's power. I did not raise my eyes to his but continued. I had gone too far to consider turning back now.

"The spy also revealed that the Santorini were aware of your family and that they longed to have you all on their side. They knew of Carlisle's affiliation with the Volturi, so they decided to try convince you all to join them another way" My courage was flailing, I hated to hurt Edward, even if it meant that there may be a chance for us to be together again. Revealing Nicole for what she really was would hurt him. This was the woman that he had turned everyone's lives upside down for. It was bound to cause him pain. Pain that I didn't want him to have to feel, despite the hell that I had been through.

My mind was in turmoil over what I was about to do to the man I loved. I was so consumed with my thoughts, that I did not see him reach for me. When his fingers lightly brushed across my cheeks, it felt like my eyes had just undergone whiplash. He smiled slowly down at me. No doubt, he was surprised by my reaction to his touch after all this time. "Let's get this over with Bella. It's no use postponing it." For the first time, his voice sounded like the one that belonged to the old Edward. My spirit soared.

I looked deeply into his eyes, he nodded slowly. "One of their leaders have a power that they thought would be vital in securing your allegiance. They knew about our wedding and decided that you would be the most likely candidate for the job they had in mind because of the intensity of your emotions. The stronger the emotion, the easier it was for the Santorini to use it to their advantage." I waited, I was sure that he had figured it out by now. When he didn't respond I continued.

"It's Nicole, Edward. She is one of the Santorini's leaders." His face was unreadable, but every muscle in his body was tautly strung. "Her ability enables her to redirect people's emotions for an infinite amount of time. She can channel feelings into different areas as well as mirror and mimic them. It's not that unlike Jasper's ability, just much more powerful. She can change emotions to reflect it upon others. And you were her target." I finished quietly, unsure of what to expect from him.

Edward turned slowly away from me and walked towards the trees without saying a word. When I had come here tonight, I had not known what to expect. He didn't believe me. I guess I had tried everything I could and he still didn't believe. I had no more cards left to play. I had lost.

I stood frozen in place. Where would I go now? I had rushed to Italy to become a vampire, certain that once I was one, I would be beautiful and powerful and Edward would not have been able to resist me. I had not bargained on him not ever wanting me again. Now, now all I had to look forward to was an eternity of trying to exist as a wraith, always missing a part of me. I had taken away the one chance I had to end all the pain and torment. I had thrown it away the moment Alice's teeth had sliced into my flesh.

I couldn't quite comprehend living forever with the hurt that sat in the pit of my stomach like a heavy stone. What had I done? Oh god, what had I thought I could possibly have achieved? My legs gave out. Before I hit the floor, a pair of vice-like arms wrapped themselves around my body. Edward had caught me, he had come back. I buried my face into the curve of his neck, inhaled his scent, and sobbed.

After my sobs had receded into gentle hiccups, Edward gently turned my face to look at him. I felt like I was drowning in the emotion that streamed from his eyes and filled my body. His eyes were like molten gold. A colour I had missed so much.

"I'm so sorry Bella! God, I'm sorry!" his words were muffled as he spoke into my hair. He too was breathing in deep breaths of my scent. I was too overwhelmed to say anything coherent to him. It came out in a weird garble.

"How do I ever even begin to comprehend the enormity of the mess that I have made? How do I even begin to make it right?" His voice was torn and it broke my heart.

I looked into his eyes and smiled shyly. "You can start by kissing me to prove that this is real and I'm not imagining it" I whispered shyly into his chest. After all we had been through I didn't want to waste another second.

He smiled in a way that set my body on fire, before slowly lowering his head towards mine. His lips brushed gently against mine. The light that had been glowing dimly seemed to explode. It shone with such radiance, that everything in the meadow was shimmering.

The current of energy that flowed between Edward and me caused us both to gasp at its intensity. It took Edward a few moments to remember that I was no longer a human and in any danger from his razor-sharp teeth, before he plunged his tongue into my mouth. I was so full of joy, love, hope, happiness; it felt like my entire being was expanding, trying to make place for it all.

The kiss was the most intense thing I had ever experienced. It literally made my toes curl. Eventually Edward dragged his lips away from mine. When our eyes met, a jolt of electricity rocked through me as I saw the love blazing in his. I was smiling so widely it felt like my face was going to split in half.

"Before we get too carried away, there are many things we still need to discuss Bella. First being; how the hell do we get rid of Nicole?" His voice went from light to furious in a nanosecond. I felt a shudder ripple down my spine.

"Edward. That is something that you are going to have to decide about. I will be there to support you, because I think part of my ability is shielding you from her powers, so as long as we are touching or incredibly close, I don't think she'll be able to gain control of you again like she has before. But as to how we get rid of her, that is up to you."

"Right now I want to tear her into shreds for what she made me do to you and to my family. I don't think I can ever forgive myself for _everything _I have done over the last few weeks." His words carried more than I could understand. I wanted to question what he meant, but it was more important that we get Nicole away from us and the family, before she had any more opportunity to poison their minds.

"Whatever you decide to do must be done soon. The Volturi think that this war will be on such a large scale, that it won't be able to be hidden from the humans." I encouraged him. Some small selfish part of me wanted him to get rid of her right now, so that I could have him to myself again. But, there was also another, less selfish reason. It was to keep him and his family away from the Santorini, to keep them all safe.

"It will be tonight. It has to be. I don't think that I will be able to hold off for longer. What do you think?" he asked, ducking his head to place a small kiss on the tip of my nose. The electricity sparked to life again.

"It would make me the happiest person in the world to see the back of her." I said, but my voice clearly portraying my enthusiasm to have her gone.

Edward gently placed me on my feet. Holding my face in both his beautiful hands, he looked straight into my eyes.

"I cannot even begin to comprehend the hell that you have been through over the last few weeks, and it kills me to think that I caused you even a second of pain. To know that I rejected you and left you for someone else, regardless of the circumstances, makes me sick to my stomach. All I can promise you right now is that I will spend the rest of forever trying to make it up to you. I know that after what I have done, I can never deserve you, or be worthy of your trust again, but it's my greatest hope that maybe somehow you will be able to trust me again someday, to believe in me." His voice was laced with guilt and sorrow, but mostly it was regret

I stood on my tip toes to place a tiny kiss to his jaw. "Yes Edward, I have been in more pain, experienced more hurt than I thought I would be able to survive, but knowing that it wasn't you doing it, made it easier to bear. I would be lying if I told you that it allowed me to stay focussed on the fact that it was not really the Edward that I knew behaving the way you were, it still hurt when I saw you with her, when you told me how much you loved her, when you touched her, but it did help. Of course I trust you, I love you and I'm so glad to have you back." I smiled at him, happiness radiating from every cell in my body.

"There is still so much that we need to talk about, but right now, I want to go home and chase that woman from my house and from my family and take the only woman that I really truly love with me." He looked down at me, the intensity of his emotions evident in his eyes.

"I would love that." I whispered to him as he extended his hand to me. I placed my hands in his. I was completely surprised when he pulled me close to him, planted a huge kiss against my lips before slinging me across his back, just like he used to do when I was still human.

"Here goes nothing" I muttered, nervousness darting through my veins at the thought of the confrontation that was about to occur. I had seen the malicious look on Nicole's face last night in the forest. A small tingle of fear rippled across my skin.

Edwards reached down and squeezed my thigh gently. "It's going to be okay, as long as we stay close, as long as we face this thing together, there's no way we can lose." He said confidently.

I placed a small kiss to the back of his neck, hoping to god that he was right about that.

**AN)So, what did you think? Again, it didn't come out the way I wanted it to, but I don't think I did that badly. **

**The next chapter should be interesting. Get ready for a serious bitch fight. Believe it or not Nicole has in some strange and twisted way fallen in love with Edward and is not quite ready to hand him over to Bella. Will Bella be able to harness in the power of her ability to fight Nicole off? What will the Cullen's reaction be to these revelations? Please let me know how you think I should go about this very intense scene. It would really help to have a few ideas. It would make me a very happy chappy!**

**Please review the chapter, I know that I don't update nearly as often as both you and I would like me to, but being a teacher leaves very little time to actually sit down and get some serious typing done.**

**But I promise that if I get a fair amount of reviews out of you all, I will somehow, somewhere, scrape some time together to get the next chapter up ASAP.**

**Hope you all enjoyed it.**

**LOL**

**Ps) Thank you all for the super-awesome reviews. It makes my day when I check my email and see that one of you have left a review. You are all amazing!!**


	14. Rage

"Do we really have to do this now

Rage

"Do we really have to do this now? Can't we send a message to Alice and ask her to get rid of Nicole? I know she'd be more than happy to do it" I begged quietly in Edward's ear as we neared the house. The bravado I had felt earlier had vanished and in its place was a vortex of anxiety and fear.

"Not a chance" Edward chuckled lightly, "we have to do this. It's the only way we'll ever truly be able to deal with it." He spoke the last part softly, squeezing my thigh. "Although, I will admit that it is a tempting idea" he laughed gently, slowing down as we reached the edge of the yard. I let out a huge sigh, which elicited another low chuckle from him. I could feel the vibrations roll through his body.

He stopped as we reached the porch steps and gently disentangled himself from my limbs that were wrapped around his body and placed me on my feet almost reverently. I kept staring at his face, trying to absorb some of his confidence. "Bella, you might hear some things tonight that will upset you. I wish we had had more time to discuss things, more time to prepare you, but unfortunately, that is not a luxury we have." I blinked up at him, not sure of what to say. "Just know that I love you, only you. Regardless of what's happened these last few weeks, you are the only one I could ever want. Just keep reminding yourself that I wasn't myself when I left you. No matter what you may hear tonight, if nothing else, hold on to the fact that I love you. Forever" His was pleading with me to understand something that I had no idea about. His topaz eyes stared down into mine, love openly visible in them.

"I promise" I said simply, my eyes conveying the rest, the love, the adoration and strangely, the trust too. "You ready?" He asked gently.

"No, but it's now or never" I tried to smile brightly, but could feel that it didn't quite come out the way I wanted it to. Edward grabbed my hand and laced his fingers through mine. As we climbed the stairs, a small smile danced across Edward's face. I was wondering about it was as we entered the house. The moment, I crossed the threshold I realised the reason for the smile. Alice was waiting a few feet away from the door in the entrance hall, her face full of joy.

"I'm so happy right now, I think I'm going to spontaneously combust" she shrieked. With that said, she launched herself at us. Edward threw open his arms and crushed his sister to his chest. I stared in disbelief. This was the first time Edward had ever happily and openly accepted any form of physical affection from any member of his family. He held Alice's tiny form to his chest. They stood like that for a few seconds, before Alice let out a squeak "It's so good to have you back big brother!" Edward slowly released her making sure she landed on her feet. "It's even better to be back" he grinned at her.

Before I had a chance to say anything, Alice turned and dragged me into a tight hug. "Thank you Bella! Thank you for returning him to us" Her words struck me right in my soul. It was the first time that I realised that as much as I had suffered for Edward leaving me, so had his family. He had left them too, which reminded me.

"Where is everyone?" I asked my friend.

"Carlisle's back at the hospital, the rest are out hunting. Esme said she needed to get out of the house after being cooped up for so long."

"By everyone do you mean…" I didn't get to finish my sentence.

"What the hell is she doing with you Edward?" An enraged Nicole growled from the foot of the staircase. All three of us stiffened involuntarily. We had all been so caught up in the emotional greeting, that we had not being paying any attention to what was going on around us. In perfect harmony, Edward, Alice and I turned to face our now mutual enemy. I placed my hand in Edward's. He gave it a gentle squeeze, as if trying to reassure me. My stomach had plummeted at the sound of that dangerously angry voice. Despite the fear and nervousness I felt, I was aware of that strange buzzing sensation in my head that I had experienced last night in the forest.

Nicole eyes widened as she saw Edward and I clasp hands. She looked up at me with a malevolent gleam in her eyes, but there was also another emotion that I could not identify.

"I believe that there are a few things that we need to discuss Nicole. Things, you have not been entirely honest about since your arrival." Edward spoke with a calm authority in his voice.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Edward." Nicole lied with such ease, had I not known the truth, I would probably have believed her.

"You can drop the pretence. We know that you are a Santorini" As the words left Edward's mouth, Nicole let out a gasp of surprise, before she had the chance to cover it. She swivelled to face me and took a step forward. "You little bitch! Do you have any idea what you have done?" Anger had caused her voice to take on a shrill tone that was not very attractive. Before I could compose a response or even ready myself, she lunged at me.

As Nicole's speeding form neared me, she was suddenly flung backwards, the banister of the staircase breaking her fall. This time it had not been my weird shield that had thrown her across the room, it had been a punch delivered by Edward that had met her squarely in the chest. "You will not talk to Bella that way, do we have an understanding?" he ground out at Nicole, who had risen to her feet and was staring at me. Hate blazing in her eyes. I shrank back from the promise of revenge I could read clearly in their depths.

"All I understand Edward, is that you are confused." Her voice was now as sweet as honey. She had obviously realised that a violent path was not the right one to choose at the moment. Alice had moved to stand in front of me, half shielding me with her body as Edward stepped forward to confront Nicole. I did not like the feeling that he was breaking contact with me, but there was nothing I could do about it now.

"Brace yourself Bella" was all Alice said to me before turning her body to face the two vampires in front of us.

"You know you love me Edward. You cannot possibly deny the feelings we share." Nicole's eyed Edward with a seductive pout to her lips and an almost imperceptive thrust of her voluptuous hips.

"All I know is that what I felt for you, was some sort of mirror image of how I feel about Bella. You mean nothing to me" He spat the words at her.

It surprised me that a flicker of genuine pain glittered in her eyes for an instant, as if his words had honestly hurt her. Was she in love with him? A small flame of jealousy and possessiveness ignited within and seeped through my body.

"How could you say that, Edward? What about all the times we made love, are you saying that you _felt_ nothing?" Nicole tried to look like a sad puppy dog, but her eyes glittered with glee as she saw her barbed words pierce me. Edward stiffened, but did not turn around to see my reaction.

The jealousy that I felt earlier, curled and died, Edward had made love to someone else. Never, not once, after all this time, did I even consider Edward sleeping with someone else. It was meant to be me. I was supposed to be his first as he was to be mine. How could I ever get over something like this? He had been put under some sort of spell, fallen in love with someone else and he had made love to her. I thought I was in agony when I had seen them kiss in the forest last night, but now, this was a thousand times worse than that. I kept trying to remind myself that it wasn't 'my' Edward that had done all these things, but the mere thought of her running her hands over his beautiful body, experiencing him in a way that had been reserved for me, hurt like hell.

"Bella, remember your promise" his soft voice carried to where I stood, rooted in place. I snapped out of my thoughts. The room was illuminated by my strange glow, the light pulsing and jerking, erratic like my thoughts. Alice had turned to look at me, her hand shielding her eyes. Nicole too, had covered her eyes, but Edward had turned around. He did not cover his eyes. He didn't even squint into the brightness. As I raised my eyes to his, I could see the pain clearly. It hurt him, that I was hurt. It took a bit of the sting away.

But I still felt as if the world had fallen away from under my feet and I was in some strange free-fall. Edward moved towards me, but I held up my hands. I couldn't handle him touching me right now. I needed time to digest this shock, time to work through it and hopefully, in some way, come to accept it. Edward's face dropped at my rejection. I felt a small stab of guilt at having hurt him, but I couldn't quite bring myself to reassure him.

A spiteful laugh from Nicole drew my attention away from Edward's crestfallen face. Rage boiled inside me. Every terrible emotion I had ever experienced, uncoiled like some insidious serpent wrapping itself around all my muscles. I raised my eyes to Nicole's, a flash of fear darted through them. It lasted only an instant. "Oh, poor baby, you didn't know" her sickeningly-sweet voice grated against my nerves. The serpent drew back ready to strike. I squared my shoulders and braced my feet apart. I stared at my enemy, the woman that had stolen the reason for living away from me.

"You will regret ever setting foot here" My voice was dark, the words laced with danger. It shocked me that I could sound so vicious. I raised my hand and pointed a finger at her. My 'aura' pulsated in a dark angry crimson. "You will not touch my family" My words rang with finality.

"Do you honestly think you are a match for me little girl?" she sounded insulted by my threat. "Don't for one second think that I won't fight for him, he belongs to me. More than he ever did to you." She shot back.

With that, we both crouched low. Everything around us faded into the background. The only thing that existed for me now was the need for revenge. To kill the creature in front of me that had caused so much heartache. The need for vengeance was so intense that it left a bitter taste in my mouth. I wanted to rip her apart, burn her and then spit on her pathetic ashes. The thrill that coursed through me at the thought of such violence, shocked me, but not nearly enough to cause me to rethink my actions. The gauntlet had been thrown down.

"Does it hurt that he made love to me?" she said, a childish giggle was sprinkled between her words. I let out my own dark laugh. "Not nearly as much as your going to hurt before the night is done" I threw back at her. Again, a swift look of fear danced across her face.

We had been vigilantly circling each other, looking for some weak spot to use to our advantage. Suddenly, she lunged at me, but met my shield with a thunderous crack.

"Not as easy as you thought it was going to be, now is it?" I laughed at her. She rose unsteadily to her feet, eyes darting around, searching for some means of escape. While she was unfocused, I leapt at her, wrapping my hand around her wrist in a vice-like grip. She whipped around to face me. I slammed my balled fist into her jaw and felt immense satisfaction as she flew across the room. The force of the impact must have been very intense, because she did not rise but lay unmoving where she had landed.

I placed my feet on either side of her head and looked down at her. Channelling all my hate and anger towards the woman that lay at my feet, it would be so easy to rip her head off her body, or perhaps start with her limbs and listen to her scream.

"Bella" Alice's soft voice broke through the wall of rage that had blocked out the world around me. I did not look at her, but tilted my head slightly in the direction of her voice. She must have taken that as a sign that I was aware that she was talking to me, because she continued. "I don't think you should do what you are planning. No matter how you feel right now, trust me, you will hate yourself for this later." Her words were like a bucket of ice water on the flames of my anger. I turned blindly towards her and collapsed into her thin arms. "Oh Alice, I was so close. I would have done it. I would have killed her" Self-recrimination evident in my words.

"Ssh Bella. It's ok. All that matters right now is that you didn't." she stroked my hair as she spoke, her cool breath fanning my face.

"Edward?" I called out in a pathetic whimper

"I'm right her Bella" her gently lifted me from Alice's arms and drew me into his embrace. My legs had turned to jelly. It was a good thing that he was holding me so tightly, as I would more than likely have crumpled to the floor, and landed right next to Nicole

Edward's head snapped towards Alice. He nodded once, before carrying me swiftly up the stairs. I only became aware of my surroundings once Edward had laid me on his bed. I buried my head in a pillow, wishing that I could sleep, that I could, for just a few hours, forget all that had happened tonight.

"Are you okay?" Edward's soft voice caressed my ear.

"What do you think Edward?" I snapped at him. All the events of the last couple of nights had left me tired and ragged.

"Bella, I…" I did not give him time to finish his sentence. The anger that I had felt earlier had turned into sullenness on my side. "Edward, don't" I said listlessly. "I just need to be alone. I need some time to sort through this, please, just leave me alone for a while."

A look of hurt bloomed in his eyes. He gently cupped my cheek in his hand. "I love you Bella, please remember that." He seemed to be staring right into my soul, my breath caught in my throat. "I guess I'll see you when I see you" he said sadly as he left the room.

I didn't dare breathe as I listened to him head back downstairs to finish off the confrontation with Nicole. With my new super-sensitive vampire hearing, I could hear each step he took. My body filled with fear for him.

"You will leave this house and you will not look back" he barked dispassionately. In my mind, I could see his face set in a grim line.

"Edward, I love you. I admit to not being honest with you, but over this last month I have fallen for you. What I feel for you is real. It is not a product of my power. You know we were happy together, we can still be." She begged him. I heard Alice let out a huge snort of laughter.

"I don't particularly care what you feel. All that matters to me right now is the fact that the only woman I love is upstairs, heartbroken. All I want is for you to get as far away from here as possible and hope to hell that she forgives me for all hurt I have caused her because of you" Edward enunciated each word carefully, leaving little doubt that meant what he said. His words filled my stomach with butterflies. He really did love me. It felt like an enormous weight was lifted off my chest.

"But…" Edward didn't let her finish.

"I will not repeat myself again. My very limited patience is wearing thin." His words rang with finality.

"If I were you, and thank god I'm not, I would take the opportunity to leave here alive, with all your limbs attached. Because, if you say one more word to my brother, I will finish were Bella left off" Alice growled at her.

My stomach leapt into my throat as I heard furious snarls and hisses from downstairs. Had she attacked Alice? She would hurt my friend. What about Edward? He could be hurt too. I was on my feet in an instant and threw the door open. I made it to the first landing before stopping in my tracks at the sight before me.

Alice had Nicole's arms pinned behind her, her glistening teeth, bare inches from Nicole's neck

"Alice stop!" Edward commanded. "She's not worth it" he cast a baleful look at Nicole.

Alice pushed Nicole's body away from her own. "Get out!" Alice hissed at her, her entire body shaking with fury.

Nicole slunk towards the door, opened it dramatically, before turning to face Edward and Alice.

"You'd be incredibly naïve to think that this ends here" she laughed sadistically at them. Her eyes flitted to me, standing motionlessly on the landing. "Watch your back" she sneered almost soundlessly at me, a clear threat evident in her tone. Before I could prevent it, I felt a shiver of fear race through my body. With that, she darted out the door and disappeared into the darkness that cloaked the forest.

Edward turned to look at me, worry etched on his beautiful face. Before he could say anything, I turned and walked listlessly up the stairs. I knew in my heart what needed to be done, but right now, after the recent ordeal I had been through, I just wanted to be alone for a while before I faced Edward.

I went back to the guest room that had been allocated to me. I collapsed onto the bed. The house was quiet again. I listened for sounds, but heard none. Somewhere out in the forest a wolf howled. Its eerie cry resonated within me, bringing all the intense pressure that I had been under this last month crashing down on me. Everything seemed to be vying for my attention, begging to be dealt with in order for some sort of balance to be restored to my life. The most disturbing thing that I had to work through was the fact that Edward had been so intimate with Nicole. I felt my stomach drop at the thought. I felt so humiliated, dejected and insecure. I knew there was a very reasonable explanation for everything that had happened between them, but it somehow, right now, did not really ease the hurt.

"Bella" I heard Edward call from the other side of the door. Crap! I really didn't feel like I needed this confrontation right now, but it had to be thrashed out, it was the only way our relationship would survive.

"Come in" I called quietly, every nerve in my body tensing in anticipation of what was about to happen.

**AN) Hi there!**

**Thanks so much for the reviews. Really appreciate it!**

**I know the fight scene was not as intense as most of you would have wanted it. Just hold tight. I promise Bella will have another crack at it somewhere down the line. **

**Please let me know what you thought about this chapter. The next one is going to be good, very intense.**

**I want**** to know if you guys picked up on a very obvious clue I left out there somewhere for you, which will give you an idea about what lies ahead. **

**So keep all those awesome reviews coming in! You guys are fantastic!!**

**Lotsa love**

**Lawriens**

**P.S) I haven't read Breaking D****awn as of yet, still waiting for mine to be shipped from overseas. I'm really sorry for all of you that were disappointed. I have read some responses on Facebook, the Lexicon and all over the internet. It makes me very sad. I have also seen that there are a few glowing reviews on the book interspersed with the bad, that have managed to raise my hopes a bit. Guess I will have to read the book and see for myself. Drop me a line and let me know your thoughts on the book we all waited ages for. So long in fact, we started writing fanfics to pass the time.**

**Hope you aren't all so disappointed that you stop reading my story. That would make me very sad******


	15. That Loving Feeling

Chapter 15

**Please Note: This chapter contains some sexual content. Again, it's not explicit ( I think it's quite tasteful and sensual) so if you take offence to this type of writing, I advise you to rather skip this chapter. If you like lemon, ENJOY!! (P.s: If you think that it's too light, drop a review and let me know)**

Chapter 15

That Loving Feeling

I sat awkwardly on the edge of the bed as Edward stepped into the room. My stomach lurched as I saw the turmoil etched on his face. I had not taken the time to consider how he was feeling about this whole situation. Surely he was just as hurt and confused about everything that had happened as I was, maybe even more so, seeing as he had had no control over his actions the last month or so.

"Bella, I…" he brushed his hands through his beautiful copper hair, unsure of what to say. I tried to give him a smile of encouragement, but I wasn't sure if it came out right.

"Before you say anything, I think there are a few things that I need to get off my chest first" The words came out in a long stream. I looked down at the ground, hoping that my courage wouldn't fail me.

"I know that everything that has happened was not your fault. I understand that Nicole had you under some weird spell. In my mind it all makes perfect sense, but in my heart… well, in my heart, it still really hurts." I smiled up at him sadly. His eyes were full of emotion. He took a step towards me, but obviously thought that it wasn't a good idea, because he summarily dropped his arms to his sides and stood still. I drew in a deep breath before continuing.

"The fact remains, that you have slept with someone else. That someone should have been me, it was something we were both looking forward to." If it were possible, I was certain that I would be blushing furiously by now. It was not something that I had ever been particularly comfortable discussing in detail, and even now, I was having trouble saying the words.

"I won't ever have the chance to experience… being with you… as a human. I'm scared that I would be a disappointment to you now, seeing that you have more experience than I do." What I was trying to say was not coming out at all how I wanted it to. I wanted him to know that I was hurt and insecure. But, I was also determined not to let it drive a wedge between us and that I was willing to try, if he could bear my inexperience. I was staring at the floor, emotions washing over me, as I tried to formulate my feelings into words. I wanted him to understand how I was feeling. I wanted him to know, that despite everything that had happened, I still wanted him and hoped to god that he still wanted me. I wanted him to know that my body craved his touch, in fact hungered for it, that every stone-like cell in my body was drawn towards him.

I did not get a chance to say the words. In a rapid movement, that even my new vampire sensed could hardly comprehend, Edward had pulled my body against his and was kissing me with such intensity it felt as though there was suddenly a thunder storm in the room. As his lips moved against mine, my body felt like it were charged with electricity. It was the most sensual moment I had ever experienced.

As he drew his lips away from mine, I opened my eyes to look into his and what I saw knocked the breath from my lungs. Edward's eyes were a molten gold. Love and lust made his eyes glitter. A small shiver of pleasure began to burn in the pit of my stomach.

"You are all I could ever want, all I could ever need" his words pierced my soul. They were so simple, but said with such force, it was impossible for me to even consider that he did not truly mean it.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, savouring the feel of his body against mine. His breath caught as I rubbed my breasts gently against his chest. I laughed at myself internally. A few minutes ago, I was all heartbroken about him having had sex with someone else, and I wasn't sure where that left us. But here I was, ready to rip the clothes off his body and have my way with him. A small giggle escaped my lips. He gave me a quizzical look. I shrugged my shoulders at him, before pulling his mouth back down to mine.

My hands made their way down from his shoulders, to the buttons on his shirt. In an instant, I had them all undone. As I was about to start on his belt buckle, his hands caught mine and clasped them together tightly. I looked at him, unable to hide the hurt and rejection I suddenly felt. I hid my face in his chest.

"Bella, please look at me" he whispered in my ear, his cool breath stirring my hair. I shook my head. It was childish, but I didn't want to be looking him in the eye when he turned me down, I didn't think I could handle it. I didn't have much choice as he gently placed his fingers under my chin and tilted my face upwards. "Open your eyes, silly girl" the gentle teasing in his voice, sparked some hope within me. Maybe he did want me after all. Maybe he was willing to give us a try.

As I looked up at him, my earlier apprehension was immediately banished. His eyes were ablaze with desire. I smug sense of satisfaction unfurled within me. The thought that I had so much power over him, thrilled me. "Are you sure that this is what you want?" I looked at him as if he were speaking in a different dialect. He registered my confusion. "You don't have to try and prove anything to me. I am more than willing to wait for you if you aren't ready. I don't want you to do anything you'll regret later" his voice was so soft, so gentle, that if it were still possible, my eyes would have filled with tears.

"The only person who is going to regret anything, is you, if you don't get out of those clothes and make love to me right now" I snapped my mouth shut. Had I really just said that? How embarrassing! Edward let out a load roar of laughter, which made me feel even smaller than I already did. I stared at the ground, hoping that a huge crack would appear and swallow me up. I was turning into a brazen hussy!

"Oh, I wouldn't want to do anything that would cause us any more regrets" Edward chuckled lightly, although there was a trace of apology in his words.

He scooped me up into his arms. "Where are you taking me Edward?" I squealed as he opened the door and streaked down the stairs. Ignoring the cheering of his family as we passed the sitting room, we were out the front door in a matter of seconds. "Edward, where are you taking me?" I asked for the second time.

"Somewhere special, so close your eyes" he answered cryptically as he placed a gentle kiss to the tip of my nose.

I obeyed his instruction, excitement and anticipation building in my body. I couldn't believe what was about to happen. Tonight, at some top secret location, I would finally belong to him. The thought caused my stomach to do flip-flops.

I had been so deep in thought, I had not realised Edward had stopped running. "We're here" his breath caressed my skin, sending tiny tingles down my spine. I opened my eyes to the most breathtaking sight.

We were in our meadow. It seemed fitting that this is where it had all started. The dawn was breaking, lighting the sky in the faintest shades of pink and purple.

Edward gently placed my feet on the ground and turned me to face him. He looked at me with such adoration I felt my knees go weak. Gently he traced his fingers down my face, his touch igniting a flame within me. His fingers worked their way down the neckline of my shirt, pausing at the first button. He looked at me, as if asking for my permission. I nodded my head slowly, still captivated by the look in his eyes. In even less time than it had taken me with his buttons, he had mine undone and ripped the shirt from my body.

He sucked in a breath. "God, your beautiful!" his breathing was harsh as his eyes fixed on my chest. I rolled my eyes. Even now, with my features more defined, I hardly thought of myself that way. Edward caught my face between his palms.

"How can a woman as beautiful as you not be sure of her beauty?" I wanted to tell him he was wrong, but he had placed his fingers over my lips.

"Listen to me. The first time I kissed you" he smiled at the memory, "I had never felt anything like that before, you asked for nothing in return, only to give. Later, when I saw you lying there, bleeding in that ballet studio, I would have walked through boiling oil to get to you. Don't you understand, can't you see how your presence affects me? You have always told me how attractive I am. Can't you see that I pale in comparison to you?"

I was stunned by his words. I could feel my confidence blooming. "Do you really think I'm pretty?" I was fishing for compliments, they made me feel buoyant and alive. He bent his head and kissed me, lingeringly, caressingly. He ran his lips along mine, then his tongue. He touched the tip of his tongue to each corner of my mouth then fiercely took my lower lip between his teeth, tasting its fullness.

"Does that answer you question?" his lips sashayed along my jaw. "It took an immense amount of will power to not go to you these last few hours" his voice was low and incredibly sensual.

"Even after everything that has happened, I don't think I would have turned you away" I confessed in a whisper

"Good, because I'm going to make love to you tonight, come hell, or high water" he chuckled lightly.

I slid my arms around his neck. "Edward" I whispered. "I love you." He stared down into my eyes as he pulled me into his arms and carried me to the centre of the meadow. He placed me gently onto the soft, dewy grass. "I want to see you, Bella" his voice was gruff, strained. I nodded my head. As if in a dream, I watched him kneel next to me and pull me up into a sitting position.

He ran his hand down the side of my body, pausing at the curve of my hip. He bent and kissed my stomach, rubbing his cheek against it.

"Edward" I whimpered quietly, "I'm frightened". It was true. I didn't quite know what to expect, I was praying that I would be able to please him. He lifted his head and smiled down at me.

"It's the unknown that's frightening. Have you ever seen a naked man?" His voice was as smooth as velvet and caused my body to shudder.

"One of my cousins when he was two" I answered honestly, it really was the only time in my life I had seen the male anatomy.

"There's a big difference" he said, a huge smile plastered on his face. He stood and began unfastening his pants.

I looked away shyly as the garment dropped to the floor, keeping my eyes on his face. He stood quietly. I knew he expected more from me. His chest was smooth. It was wide and muscled. The deep curves of his muscles played with the soft dawn light. His waist was very slim, his stomach muscles forming separate ridges. I quickly darted my eyes to his feet, his strong calves and muscled thighs. My eyes went back to his face, and still he wore a look of waiting.

I gulped and proceeded to drop my gaze. What I saw did not frighten me. This was Edward, the man I loved and I wasn't afraid of him. I let out a low throaty laugh of relief and pleasure. I opened my arms to him, not uttering a word.

Edward smiled as he stretched out beside me on the grass.

"Such a beautiful smile" I said as I ran my fingers along his lips. "Maybe someday you'll explain to me why I see it so seldom"

"Maybe" he said impatiently as he caught my mouth to his. Edward's skin was electric. His size and strength made me feel small and feminine. As he kissed my neck, I ran my hand over his arm, feeling the dips and curves of it.

Suddenly I realised that he was mine, that his body was mine to explore and taste. I leaned forward and kissed his smiling lips. I placed small nipping bites along his neck, pulled his earlobe between my teeth. I moved my thighs so that they were positioned between his.

Edward was startled by my actions. He laughed inside his throat. "Come here my little vixen". He pulled me close and rolled with me across the grass.

I laughed joyously, delightfully. He held me on top of him, ran his hands through my hair and then up my body to my breasts. He proceeded to gently peal my bra off my body. His expression changed, darkened. "I want you." He whispered.

"I know" I whispered back.

Gently, he rolled until I had my back pressed into the soft grass. The catharsis of having dealt with all our issues, relaxed me. All I knew was that this was the man I loved and wanted. I wasn't afraid as I felt Edward enter me. There was only a brief moment of pain, but it was easily forgotten at the thought of being that much closer to him.

My eyes widened in surprise and Edward began moving inside me. I had always imagined making love as a rather holy pleasure, a feeling of closeness and love. The feeling that was coursing through my veins now though, had nothing to do with love- this was fire.

"Edward" I moaned as I tilted my head back and arched my body toward him.

He went slowly at first, restraining himself, knowing that it was my first time. My reactions seemed to inflame him. It was as if I understood this passion instinctively. I clutched at his hips, ran my hands down along his body. I wanted him to know how I worshipped him, how much he meant to me.

He fell on top of me as his thrusts became harder and faster. I pulled him closer, wrapping my legs around his waist. We exploded together, still clinging to one another, our bodies united.

This had been a new wondrous experience. I had expected something heavenly and uplifting. The animal passion I had felt was so much more than I knew existed. I lay in Edward's arms, still stunned by the immense pleasure I had just felt. I turned to place a soft kiss to his to his shoulder. I wanted to tell him how amazing he was, how I felt right at this moment, a million things that chugged through my now-lethargic mind.

We didn't get a chance to say anything to one another. The sound of footsteps alerted us both to the fact that we were no longer alone in the meadow.

"I'm really sorry to do this now, but I really need you guys to get back to the house right now" Alice called from the tree line, her voice thick with apology and urgency.

Edward and I both looked at one another for a split second before jumping up and pulling our discarded clothing back on. There was obviously a pretty good reason for Alice coming out to find us.

Once we were dressed, Alice appeared. a smug look on her face. "I'm really sorry guys, I know that this was… um… not the best time to interrupt, but we need to get back to the house, right now" she repeated. "I waited as long as I could, sorry". I looked at Edward, mortified at the thought that Alice had been nearby while we were being… intimate. Even thinking about what had just occurred, made my stomach flutter with pleasure, pushing aside the slight sense of embarrassment.

He leaned towards me, drawing me in for a quick hug. "Relax, she would have seen it in her visions any way" he pressed a soft kiss to the nape of my neck.

"Actually, I was trying to give you a little privacy." She stood with her hands on her hips. Tapping her foot at I stared at her, not comprehending what she was saying. "That is, I was trying to give you some privacy until you completely disappeared from my vision" her voice implied something I had a hard time catching on to. Her voice was now full of tension, her eyes darting everywhere at once, her feet dancing, getting ready to flee.

"The wolves are here. We need to run. NOW!" Edward yelled as he pulled me behind him.

My body filled with terror, causing me to run faster than I ever had. The wolves, Jacob, I hadn't thought of them in a long time. I couldn't afford to ponder as to whether they meant us any harm. I was a vampire now. We were enemies. The trees whizzed past at a frightening speed as my mind tried to work through this new development.

Suddenly, a howl broke the silence in the forest. My body shuddered at the sound. It was so close. I saw Alice throw Edward a look of desperation. It scared the hell out of me. It meant that they were close. Edward's grip on my hand tightened as he ran faster. I managed to keep up with them.

I could hear the sound of the wolves heavy paws as they pounded against the soft ground. They were close. Very close. I finally understood what Edward meant when he had spoken of their smell. A thick cloyingly fetid smell filled my nostrils.

The sounds got closer and closer. Terror filled my body. If the entire pack were together, the three of us stood absolutely no chance. As we crested a rise the Cullen home came into view. It was the most welcoming sight I had ever seen. I drew in a shocked gasp as I saw the rest of the family exit the house and stand in a crescent formation facing the forest.

As we neared, I saw a look of relief wash over each and every face. We did not have time to talk of anything. Edward drew me alongside him to the tip of the formation. I stood next to him, flanked on either side by his very tense looking family. I listened as intently as I could to the sound of the wolves moving through the forest. They had slowed their pace and were edging towards the tree line.

A harsh shrieking howl pierced the air. The trees directly opposite us shook and swayed. A dark form moved out of the shadows. I drew in a ragged breath. "Oh my god!" the words dropped out of my mouth. As did my stomach as I took in the form of the creature that stood before us.

**AN) I'm really sorry that it's taken so long to post this chapter. I've been away on a leadership camp with some of the kids from school and there was no internet access. Hope you forgive me.**

**I must admit that this was a really difficult chapter to write. It feels so odd writing about these two in an intimate setting. Hope I did ok though. Please let me know whether I should quit while I'm ahead or not.**

**I think you guys will enjoy the next chapter. It's going to be quite long and very intense. Many of the characters will come in to play. Some of the visitors you'll be expecting, others you won't.**

**I am still waiting for my Breaking Dawn. It will arrive next week Tuesday (The joys of living in a developing country). Apparently, many people have changed their views on the book after reading it for a second time. Let me know what you think of that.**

**Last, but definitely not least, thank you to all my reviewers. Your support and amazing comments, really brighten up my day. Please continue to be my little Rays of Sunshine. It's winter here, so the weather is cold and dreary and reading your reviews are brilliant way to start my day. **

**Hope the rest of your week is stress free and you have an awesome weekend.**

**Be safe.**

**Lotsa love**

**Lawriens**


	16. Chapter 16

Hi all!

SURPRISE!

I am happy to announce that after a long, long, long break, I will attempt to finish off this story.#

The reason that I never concluded it was that Breaking Dawn was released and after reading it, it felt like a lot of the ideas I had might have been perceived as having being copied from the book ,so I lost all my interest.

I currently 31 weeks pregnant and am looking forward to starting my maternity leave soon, which will give me 4 months where I can hopefully finish this off.

Any ideas or suggestions as what to do with the story would be great! I'll even try and incorporate the author of the best suggestion into the story and make them a character. Bit of a challenge for you all!!!

Well, I'm partly through the next chapter, hope you all enjoy it!

Much love!

Lawriens


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